Right Place, Right Time
by K0nflicti0n
Summary: NCIS Special Agent Dominic Vail survives his rescue during season 1 episode "Found". Watch as events unfold in a different manner as LAPD Detective Marty Deeks happens to be in the right place at the right time and how this changes events within the NCIS LA universe. Sporadic appearances by NCIS characters both major and minor.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This was an idea that came to me when I was watching Season 1 of NCI: Los Angeles and I figured I would take the idea and run with it. It is a AU and will be rated M for language and violence. I hope you enjoy it**

Detective Marty Deeks was enjoying a long needed and luckily granted day off as he was just trying to unwind after a particularly grueling Deep Cover assignment with the LAPD that had successfully broken up a drug and human smuggling ring that had connections to the Del Valle Cartel. As Deeks and his childhood friend Ray were walking down the street enjoying a easy going casual conversation Deeks was infinitely grateful that Ray was all willing and ready to help Deeks 'come back' whenever he had to assume a fairly dark cover for an extended amount of time, and today was most certainly one of those times.

For two months Deeks had assumed the role of Eric Lasher and had collected enough evidence to put away every single person connected the Del Valle Cartel's operations in Los Angeles. But in order to do so Deeks had been a witness and partial participant in some fairly heinous acts. As a UC Deeks had been around some of the most vile scum every to be belched forth from the underbelly of Los Angeles but it always troubled him when he had to witness the cruelty that these monsters cloaked as men enacted on innocent civilians. The undercover portion of the operation had been concluded five days ago and in that time Deeks had been filing case reports, organizing the return of family members to their loved ones and of course his personal favorite, mandatory visits with the Departments Shrink who luckily enough was a woman who had a thing for the scruffy looking Detective so he easily manipulated her to get out of talking to her with the promise of dinner and a few drinks.

Suddenly the LAPD Detectives peaceful day off was interrupted by the arrival of a black Dodge Challenger belonging to one Sam Hannah. Deeks stopped Ray in mid stride as he studied the body language of the NCIS Agents he had worked with a couple times and they were all on edge and moving with a sense of purpose. "Ray wait here." Deeks said as he pulled out his cellphone and quickly called Lt. Bates.

"Bates its Deeks…Yeah I'm on Broadway near the old Palace Theater. I just spotted the NCIS Team heading inside and they look ready for a fight…..Yeah look you better send a few units and an ambulance down here…..Bates keep it off the radio if these guys are going in like this who knows what they are up against." Deeks hung up and tossed his burrito into a nearby trash can before he turned to look at Ray. "Hey man you better get outta here. I'll call you as soon as this is all over."

Ray pulled Deeks into a fast hug. "Don't shoot back."

"Just shoot first. Got it." Deeks replied before he crossed the street and made his way to the backside of the old Movie Theater and pulled out his second phone, the encrypted one that Hetty had given him before he went undercover and pressed #1.

**NCIS OSP Operations Center**

Hetty Lange along with Nate and Eric were inside Ops monitoring the situations via GPS and Satellite Imaging when her cell phone suddenly rang starteling everyone in the room. Aggravated at the unwanted interruption she quickly retrieved the source of annoycance and almost hit the ignore button when she saw that the call was from Detective Deeks.

"Mr. Deeks this is not a good time."

"I kind of figured that but I just spotted everyone going into the old Palace Theater. Hetty what's going on Sam and Callen look like they're out for blood."

"The man who owns that building just went inside and has information about one of our missing Agents."

"He knows about Agent Vail? Hetty I'm at the back side of the building next to a fire escape. Tell the team I'm heading up top and I'll work my way down to everyone else." Deeks quickly said as he hung up and pocketed the phone before slowly and cautiously making his way up the old rusted fire escape.

Hetty looked at the phone slightly perturbed that Deeks had hung on her so abruptly, but she knew that the blonde detective was capable of handling himself. "Mr. Callen, Detective Deeks in on scene and is currently making his way to the top of the builing and will work his way down towards you."

Callen and the others shared a surprised look but they didn't question how or why Deeks was on sight they were just glad to have a friend backing them up.

"You have to keep an open line to the U.S.S. Cole Eric. The minute we get Kalil to tell us where Dom is they have to scramble that SEAL Team." Sam calmly ordered the Technological expert

"Copy that."

Sam walked into the lobby of the theater and the three NCIS Agents looked at the sheer size of the building and knew they would have to spread out to find Kalil quickly.

"We could use a layout of this place." Callen said of the comm channel as he tried to formulate a plan in his head on how to proceed. Eric began to rapidly type command keys on his table and in seconds had a copy of the blue prints for the building on the large screen in front of Nate and Hetty. "Got it."

As Deeks neared the end of his long climb he heard some form or noise coming from the roof a few feet above him and he slowed his accent and pulled his Berretta from the back waist of his jeans and slowly pulled the receiver back chambering a round and flipped the safety to off when he heard a panicked voice of a man screaming.

"IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?"

Unsure who the speaker was but knowing it was the tone of a desperate man Deeks began to climb faster. And that was when he heard the sound of a AK-47 being fired.

Inside the building's main movie room the three NCIS Agents drew their side arms at the sounds of the gunfire and began to look around them to see if they had walked into and ambush. "Eric we got shots fired." Callen said when he realized that no one was shooting at them. "It sounds like it came from above."

To his credit Eric remained mostly calm but he stepped up his game as he spun his chair from the screen to his computer. "I'll see if I can find a camera."

As Deeks worked his way across the rooftop he pressed his back against the wall when he heard a man groaning and a shuffle of footsteps moving his way. Deeks waited until the man was right in front of him and he spotted a battered and slightly bleeding African American male who looked like he had been living in filth for a while and Deeks lowered the pistol. "I'm Detective Deeks with LAPD."

"Agent Vail NCIS."

Deeks eyes widened at this revelation. He had never met the missing agent before now but the team had vaguely mentioned that Agent Vail had been taken and that Vail's desk is where Deeks had been sitting. "Look you're not going to believe me but I know Hetty Lange."

Inside the building while Callen and the others had spread out to try and get to the roof as fast as they can they all heard Eric speak up over their earwigs. "I found a couple of security cameras covering the building trying to access them now. "Oh my god." Kensi's shocked and horrified voice rang out clearly over the teams radio frequency.

"Kensi what is it?"

"I'm in the room where they were holding Dom…this is where they shot the video." Kensi answer the team's field leader as she stared at the wooden chair in front of the wall with a black square containing crossed saber and AK-47 above some words written in Arabic. "Callen he never left L.A." Kensi said as she felt her blood run cold. When Sam heard Kensi declaration he started to move faster up the stair he had been clearing when he spotted someone he thought he would never see again. "Mo?"

Standing before the former SEAL was the young man that he had brought to America after killing his father, Mowah Dusa. The young immigrant was dressed in a typical rebel fighters 'uniform' of a fatigue blouse, blue jeans and boots with a red and white checkered Keffiyah around his head leaving his face uncovered. After a couple seconds of eye contact Mo turned and fled. "Mo wait a minute…MO!?" Same yelled after his young friend and was torn between continuing the search for Dom and running after his friend.

Inside OSP Eric looked at his computer in shock. There hudled together was Marty Deeks and Dominic Vail. "I've got Dom." Eric said softly in disbelieve as he pulled the image up on the plasma and turned to look the large screen in disbelief. "He's on the roof with Deeks." Eric had forgotten that he was still on the comm channel with the team for a second or two. "Dom and Deeks are on the roof." Eric exclaimed loudly as he saw bullet holes blow through a door near his two friends location at a rapid pace.

"Mo's here too. He's one floor above you G. I'm going for Deeks and Dom." Sam said horridly as he turned back to the stairs and rushed up them to aid Deeks and his recently recovered fellow agent.

Deeks heard the gun fire and then the sound fo a door being forced open and he instantly shoved the injured NCIS Agent behind him in a protective manner. At the same time Deeks saw a door nearby swing up and he instantly trained his pistol on it when he spotted Sam Hannah. Deeks say the black Federal Agent's mouth moving but couldn't hear the words so he assumed that Sam was using his communications gear to tell the team that he had found Deeks and Dom. "Guys come on!" Sam ordered as he started to move forward and raised his Sig-Saur and began firing rounds as someone Deeks couldn't see.

"MOVE!" Deeks shouted over the gun fire and moved to stand between Dom and who ever Sam was shooting at. The two men quickly moved to join Sam behind the cover of a heating and cooling vent shaft just as fire from and AK-47 peppered the ground they had been standing on a split second ago.

"Hey Sam you miss me?" Deeks said as he spun around to return fire as the large NCIS Agent looked over Dom quickly to see how badly he was injured.

"Deeks what the hell are you doing here?"

"Well the Mystery Machine broke down so I thought I would look for something to eat." Deeks replied in a smart ass tone as he popped off a few rounds from his 9mm before ducking back to avoid a spray of automatic weapons fire. As the two men returned fire when they could Deeks spotted a man in paramilitary gear pop out of the same door that Sam had used.

"GET DOWN!" Deeks shouted as he stood up and fired his pistol. As Deeks tried to fire a second round the unknown man fired a short burst from his AK-47 and Deeks suddenly fetl a blinding white hot pain explode in his chest, he knew that meant he had been shot. Everything in Deeks mind seemed slowdown from the sudden 'overdose' of adrenaline and he could tell that only a single bullet had hit him in the lower right side of his chest. The scruffy blonde knew that his lung had been pierced as it was suddenly very difficult to breath. Quickly reacting as his shooter moved to assault rifle to his shoulder Deeks switched his pistol over to his left hand and fired off to quick shots hitting his target center mass knocking him down.

"DEEKS!" Sam cried out in shock as he turned to catch the falling LAPD cop. Inside OSP everyone watched as Deeks had saved Sam's life but had taken a bullet in the process. "Eric we need and ambulance now!" Sam said in a rushed tone as he ripped Deeks shirt off him and wadded it up and put pressure on the wound. "Dom press on this hard." Sam said as he popped back up to scan for anyone else coming out the door. As soon as he did Kalil was right there and Sam dropped down to avoid the gun fire. He was in a bad spot with two wounded teammates and was taking fire from two different directions. "Deeks is hit! Deeks is down!" Sam cried out on the radio. "I'm pinned down guys!"

For what seemed like an eternity Sam lay there on the roof next to Dom and Deeks as the blonde struggled to breath and was slowly leaking a pool of blood out from underneath him when suddenly Sam noticed the gun from behind him had stopped. Shortly after that Sam heard one more burst of AK fire then his longtime friend and partner call out. "Kalil's down! Kensi?"

"All Clear."

"SAM?"

"Here!" The SEAL replied as he dropped his pistol and moved to Deeks side. "Hang in the Deeks we're gonna get you outta here. You're gonna be fine." Sam said as he moved Dom out of the way and pressed as hard as he could on Deeks chest without breaking a rib. In the distance he would he approaching sirens. "Hear that Deeks? The Calvary's on the way just hang in there."

Kensi rushed down the stair and spotted both her partners, one alive and well the other slowly bleeding out and his body shaking as he tried to breath. "Oh god Deeks." Kensi muttered as he tucked her pistol behind her back and grabbed his hand for support. "Deeks look at me." She tried to keep her voice calm but she was scared. She had never lost anyone she worked with before let alone a partner and he sqeezed his hand and turned his head to look at her.

"Fern….Told you…"

"Shh don't talk. You'll be ok Deeks." Kensi tried to keep him calm as the ambulanced kept getting closer and closer.

"I…don't….I don't wanna die." Deeks pleaded softly with her as his body started to shake more rapidly and he voice was barely a whisper.

"Sam he's going into shock." Callen said as he dropped down beside Deeks to try and do what he could to help him.

Deeks looked up at the three Agents he had worked with for a short time nad could tell form the look on their faces, and how hard it was getting to take any measure of breath that he was in bad shape. "Do…Dom…is."

"He's ok Deeks you did good just hold on." Callen tried to reassure the man you had saved his partner and the junior agent. "Eric where the hell is the medevac?"

Deeks was slowly losing consciousness as black spots started to appear in his vision. He could hear the ambulance now but he couldn't really see anything. Pretty soon he couldn't see or hear anything, or feel Kensi holding his hand.

**Two Days Later**

Beeping. Slow and steady rhythmic beating was the first thing he hard. It was like a homing beacon slowly bringing him back from the total darkness he was engulfed in. As the beeping got a little louder Deeks suddenly felt pain, and lots on it. A groan escaped his lips as his eyes fly open to blinding light. Deeks was slowly becoming aware of his surroundings and noticed he was laying on something soft and somewhat comfortable, which was so different then the hot and unforgiving concrete roof he had been laying on a moment ago. As Deeks slowly forced his left hand to his face he was aware of movement off to his side and a calm male voice spoke up.

"Easy Deeks. You're in California Hospital Medical Center."

As Deeks looked at the sound of the voice it took him a few seconds to focus on the face and had to blink a few times before Callen's worried expression fully came into view. "Wha.."

"You're ok. Don't try to talk your lung was pretty damaged in the shootout. Dom and Sam are ok you saved both of them Deeks." Callen said as he put a hand on Deeks left shoulder and smiled down at the younger man, while secretly pressing the call button on Deeks bed. "You rest up now and we'll talk later ok?"

Deeks feebly nodded his head in the affirmative and felt himself slipping back to sleep but at least he was alive and so where Sam and Dom. Suddenly Deeks force his eyes open and grabbed Callen's shirt by the hem stopping him. "Kensi?" he weakly muttered and Callen took Deeks hand and gently guided it back to his side.

"Everyone's fine Deeks." Callen said with a grin and waited until Deeks was back asleep and walked out of the room, still smiling at the fact that everyone was safe and on the road to recovery. Callen moved to the side as some nurses walked into Deeks room and headed down the hall a few rooms to stand outside of Dominic Vail's room. "Hey Dom."

"Callen, how's Detective Deeks?" The younger man asked as he looked up at his team leader. He was being kept for observation since he was severely dehydrated and they were keeping an eye on some minor infections to ensure there were no complications with his recent ankle surgery. He had broken his right ankle when he jumped down the steel stair in order to avoid the gun fire during his escape.

"Deeks is good. He just woke up for a bit. He asked if you were ok before he fell back asleep."

Dom couldn't suppress the smile that spread across his face, even though it cause some pain under his left eye, where his orbital bone had been fractured and hadn't healed properly. It had been repaired as much as was possible when the doctors had worked on his ankle. "Ah." Dom said in a bit of pain and he looked up at Callen. "That's good. I'm glad he's going to be ok."

"I'm glad to see you in such high spirits Dominic." The soft voice of Hetty called from behind Callen as she stepped into the room. "I just hope that you can maintain them through out what is going to happen next."

Callen and Dom shared a confused look before the older agent spoke up. "And what's going to happen next Hetty?"

"Me." The voice of NCIS Director Leon Vance replied as he stepped into view behind Hetty and he leveled an unreadable expression at his recovering agent. "We have a few things to discuss Agent Vail.


	2. Chapter 2

"Me." The voice of NCIS Director Leon Vance replied as he stepped into view behind Hetty and he leveled an unreadable expression at his recovering agent. "We have a few things to discuss Agent Vail.

"Director Vance." Callen greeted the man in shock and couldn't help but notice the nervous expression that was plastered all over the recently recovered Dominic's face. "What are you doing here?" the Team Leader asked out of reflex and was soon met with Vance's 'did you really just me that' look.

"Agent Vail's abduction was an unprecedented event, especially when you factor in your teams line of work Agent Callen I thought it best to handle the follow up interviews personally." Vance politely answered as he leveled his gaze at Dominic. "How are you feeling Agent Vail?"

"The doctors say I'll make a full recovery. They are keeping me here tonight to keep watch a minor infected contracted during my imprisonment but they think they will be able to release me tomorrow."

"I already know that Dom. I'm asking how you are personally."

"Honestly sir?"

"I would appreciate that." Vance said with a bit of amusement in his voice. Leon noticed how Callen was standing protectively by the younger agents bed ready to jump in if need be. A quality in Callen that Vance had always admired about the man his willingness to defend his teammates, reguardless of who he had to defend them from. Dom looked nervously to Callen at his bedside and over to Hetty who was behind Vance of off to his left.

"I assure you this is not a witch hunt Agent Vail and I'm not looking for a scape coat for all of this. I'm just here to conduct a simple debriefing." Vance said as he put his hands in his pants pockets and put a disarming smile on his face. While he may be rubbing elbows with politicians and various other members of the so called 'Capitol Hill Elite' he was first and foremost an undercover intelligence operative.

"Perhaps things would go more smoothly if Mr. Callen and myself gave you two the room." Hetty spoke up to reassure Dominic as well as preventing Callen from reacting in a rash manner.

"I would appreciate that Hetty." Vance agreed with her and nodded his head at Callen.

"I'll be outside the room Dom." Callen said as he gave Dominic's left shoulder a comforting pat and walked past the Director of NCIS and followed Hetty out of the room. When Vance closed the door behind them Callen moved to stand in front of the room's window, only to have Vance stare at him as he closed the blinds to the room. Sighing in frustration Callen leaned against the wall and cross his arms over his chest. "Hetty. Why is Vance really here? Dom has already been debriefed and if they had someone forced him to talk about the office we would have already been hit."

"Believe it or not Mr. Callen but Director Vance has taken Dominic's kidnapping as a personal insult. The Director is not one to stand idly by when one of his agents is in a situation such as Agent Vail's." Hety said calmly as she looked up at her senior most field agent. "Leon has taken a personal interest in Dominic's case for the simple fact that he himself was once in a similar situation."

This of course peaked Callen's curiosity and he raised an eyebrow at his boss. "Why do I get the feeling that there is more to the story then what you're telling me?"

"In 1994 Then Special Agent Vance was working undercover on a joint DOD and NIS case involving a Lieutenant J.G. from the Office of Naval Intelligence who was passing classified information to the Russians. During the assignment Leon was captured and was held and questioned by the GRU." Hetty said solemnly as she recalled the events in her mind. "They interrogated Director Vance for five days before we learned of his location and were able to retrieve him, during his interrogation Leon never broke or told the Russians anything useful. After the smoke cleared and the dust settled a most heinous and vile individual from the DOD tried to place the blame solely on Director Vance's shoulder when in reality this man had slipped the information the Russians."

Callen stood in place a few seconds as he digested the information that Hetty had told him. He had always known that Vance's career had not been ne pushed by politics so much as it had been on the merit of the Director's personnel file with NIS and NCIS after the name change. "So that means the situation is personal to Vance on both fronts." Callen stated as he finished processing what Hetty had just told him. Casually standing from the wall Callen put his hands in his pockets and looked down at Hetty. "There is something else I've been wondering about Hetty."

"Yes Mr. Callen?"

"What was Deeks doing at the Palace Theater? Was he there undercover?"

"No. From what Lt. Bates has told me Mr. Deeks had finished a particularly difficult assignment almost a week prior to the rescue of Agent Vail. As I understand it Deeks was simply there trying to unwind and relax before rejoining us on Monday. It was simply a case of being in the right place at the right time."

"Hetty how well do you know Deeks? I know we don't need a LAPD Liaison. So what's you're…..your recruiting him." Callen said as it dawned on him. "You want him as an Agent for OSP…..That means he had been on your radar for a while now."

Hetty simply gave Callen a knowing smile. "Mr. Deeks possess a particular set of skills that will be most beneficial to your team Mr. Callen." Hetty reached into her oversized shoulder bag and produced a personnel file and offered it to the former CIA Operative. "I suggest you look over Detective Deeks personnel file. I think you will find it most enlightening as to why I have assigned him to your team. Now I have some things to attend to in my office. Once Director Vance has finished talking to Mr. Vail I suggest you do the same."

As Callen accepted the file Hetty had given on in Detective Martin Deeks the thickness and weight of the file had surprised Callen. While it wasn't as thick as his or Sam's personnel file it wasn't all that far off and was certainly thicker than anyone else that worked in the Office of Special Projects. Out of habit and years fo training in his trade craft Callen causally looked around to make sure no one had been paying overly close attention to the exchange between himself and Hetty. When he was satisfied that no one had been watching them Callen made a mental note to review the file tonight.

Inside Dominic's room the conversation was of a much less serious nature but no less important than the one Hetty and Callen were having. Vance moved a chair closer to Dominic Vail's bed and unbuttoned his jacket before he sat down. "This just an informal debriefing Agent Vail. What is said between us stays that way. You have my word on that."

Dominic nodded his understanding at Vance's words even though he still didn't fully grasp the situation; he had already been debriefed by NCIS Agents from the San Diego office as well as a pair of F.B.I. Agents. "Director am I in some sort of trouble?"

"Absolutely not. I'm just here to see how you are doing Dominic. I know what you're going through. Right now you're running every detail from your time captive over in your head looking for any minute detail that you may have over looked at the time. Don't"

"Sir?"

"Going over and over everything in your head isn't going to help you Dom. Believe me I know. Because after you drive yourself up the wall doing that you start going over how you should have tried to escape. And when that doesn't pan out you will start second guessing yourself, and in our line of work that is a good way to get yourself killed."

"I've read the reports from both the FBI and our agents out of San Diego and you did everything you were trained to. I'm only sorry we hadn't found you sooner. I just want you to know that no matter what the Doctors say your position at OSP with Agent Callen's team will be waiting for you when you're cleared for active duty." Leon said as he stood up from his chair and re-buttoned his jacket before pulling out one of his cards. "If you ever need to talk about what you went through from someone who's been there you call me."

Dominic nodded softly and accepted the card and shook hands with the Director. "Thank you sir."

"Not a problem. You rest up and take care of yourself Agent Vail." With that Director Vance walked out of the room and left the door open. Next to the door Vance spotted Callen with a rather large file in his hands. "Anything I should know about Callen?"

"Not really. I'm sure Hetty has already showed this to you." Callen said as he held up the file about Deeks. Leon noticed that the tab on the folder was labeled Deeks, Martain J and he simply nodded at Callen.

"Have you had a chance to read it?"

"No Hetty just gave it to me…Have you read it Director?"

"While I completely trust Ms. Lange to run her office I did fully review Detective Deeks information. And I have to agree with her that your team will benefit from what's in that file." Vance said as he pointed at the topic of their conversation. "Speaking of Detective deeks whats his current status?"

"He's stable. He was awake for a few seconds, wanted to know how everyone else was and then he fell back asleep. Are you planning on talking to him Director?"

"If I'm afforded the chance, I'll be in town until the end of the week meeting with the head of the LA FBI Office as well as a few other officials from various agencies. A foreign terror cell kidnapping a Federal Agent and holding him on U.S. soil has everyone on edge and we are going to be working to put new policies and procedures in place to prevent something like this from happening again." Leon noticed the look of disbelief on Callen's face and he pulled a toothpick from his breast pocket and placed in firmly between his right side molars. "Rest assured Agent Callen there will be no fall out from this incident directed at your team or office. The SecNav is backing me up on this one and Tom Morrow has also let his support for us in this matter be known."

**NCIS OSP Armory**

Sam was silently sitting at the work bench as he finished cleaning his weapon. Ever since the team had rescued Dom and Deeks had saved his life Sam had been forced to change his entire opinion of the blonde LAPD Liaison. As he sat there the scene of Deeks fully exposing himself and sidestepping between Sam and the shooter played again in his mind.

_As the two men returned fire when they could Deeks spotted a man in paramilitary gear pop out of the same door that Sam had used. Deeks knew that Sam was full exposed as he was returning fire at the shooter on the stairs roughly 30 yards away from them, acting on instinct to protect his 'partner' Deeks stood up to his full height and moved between Sam and their knew attacker._

_"GET DOWN!" Deeks shouted as he stood up and fired his pistol. As Deeks tried to fire a second round the unknown man fired a short burst from his AK-47 and Deeks suddenly fetl a blinding white hot pain explode in his chest, he knew that meant he had been shot. Everything in Deeks mind seemed slowdown from the sudden 'overdose' of adrenaline and he could tell that only a single bullet had hit him in the lower right side of his chest. The scruffy blonde knew that his lung had been pierced as it was suddenly very difficult to breath. Quickly reacting as his shooter moved to assault rifle to his shoulder Deeks switched his pistol over to his left hand and fired off to quick shots hitting his target center mass knocking him down._

_"DEEKS!" Sam cried out in shock as he turned to catch the falling LAPD cop. Inside OSP everyone watched as Deeks had saved Sam's life but had taken a bullet in the process. "Eric we need and ambulance now!" Sam said in a rushed tone as he ripped Deeks shirt off him and wadded it up and put pressure on the wound. "Dom press on this hard." Sam said as he popped back up to scan for anyone else coming out the door. As soon as he did Kalil was right there and Sam dropped down to avoid the gun fire. He was in a bad spot with two wounded teammates and was taking fire from two different directions. "Deeks is hit! Deeks is down!" Sam cried out on the radio. "I'm pinned down guys!"_

Sam slowly finished putting his Sig-Saur together and he stood their looking at it. He had been pretty rude to Deeks when Hetty had assigned him to Dom's desk. And then when Deeks didn't want to actually do his job as the Liaison Officer and failed to get anything done with the LAPD it had rubbed Sam the wrong way, but after a couple more incidents of Deeks not getting any help from the LAPD and one of the OSP Agents having to flash federal credentials Sam started to noticed that it wasn't that Deeks didn't want to do his job. It was that just about every LAPD cop then ran into went out of their way to try and stonewall Deeks, which in turn made Sam question every move that Deeks made with more and more scrutiny.

"Hey Sam you down here?" the voice of Kensi pulled Sam from his thoughts and he slowly stood up and holstered his pistol behind his back.

"Yeah I was just about to call it a day." Sam said as he turned to face the female field agent. "What's up?"

"Nothing really. Hetty is still deflecting cases away from us ever since we got Dom back and Deeks got hit." Years of experience and training allowed Sam to tell that something was bothering Kensi from her body language, he also knew that she wasn't one to make the first move in opening up about something that was bothering her and still tried to hide or ignore her emotions.

"What's wrong Kensi?"

"Nothing." She replied a little to eagerly and earned a frown from Sam. "Really I'm fine."

"Kensi its just you and me down here. You know you can talk to me."

"It's just….Look I know our job is dangerous and that at any time one of us could be killed. Hell Dom was kidnapped two months ago…..I've just never lost anyone I work with before and That video with Dom scared the hell out of me….and then Deeks almost dying." Kensi trailed off and without thinking brought her right hand up and cupped it around her left elbow like she was trying to protect herself from her own thoughts. "You and Callen had been at this a lot longer than I have and….Sam how do you guys deal with losing a teammate and friend?"

Sam nodded at her words and looked down at the ground trying to formulate a sentence to answer her and sighed heavily. "The truth is you never really deal with it Kensi. You put your life and trust in the hands of your partner every time you go into the field and they do the same for you. It's how both of you are able to survive. Every time you lose someone in the field it doesn't get any easier and some of them are harder to accept and deal with then others, especially if they are your partner." Sam paused as he moved to half lean and half sit against the work table behind him. "It's never an easy thing to do when you have to move on after losing a partner. It's like part of you died with them and it some ways it is. When you get assigned a new partner you hate yourself for it because you feel like moving on is just betraying their memory so your put up barriers between you and your new partner. You don't really mean to because you know that you have to watch each other's backs out there but it's just a natural reaction….but over time you let down your walls and start to build trust and a new partnership and after a while you promise yourself that you will not let your new partner end up like your old one. Sometimes you keep that promise…"

"And sometimes you can't." Kensi finished his sentence and received a solemn nod from the senior agent.

"I think Nate would call that a break through." Sam teased her hoping to lift her spirits and smiled when she gave him a scoffing chuckle and he walked forward and playfully pumped his shoulder into hers. "And before you know it Deeks will be back here making inappropriate jokes and driving us all up the wall."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I want to thank you guys who have left reviews and have added this story to your follow list. This story has kind of become a personal favorite of mine out of the stories I have written so expect updates for this story faster than the other ones. I plan on working episodes from the past and upcoming season into this story as well as a few other 'original' ideas I have in my head to show how different I think things would be in Dom wasn't killed during 'Found' in Season 1. That being set lets get to the good stuff so you don't have to listen to me ramble LOL. Enjoy**

**Eastsider Motel **

Callen was seated at the table in the cheap motel he was currently staying in. On the table was a half-eaten pizza from a local pizzeria and couple empty bottles of beer, all of which were scattered around the open manila folder that Hetty had given Callen earlier that day while Director Vance had been talking to Dominic Vail.

"Lets see…Martin Alexander…Brendal?...Born January 8th 1979…Mother Claire R. Brendal maiden name Deeks..…Father….Ok that's weird." Callen paused as he re-read the top of the page and sure enough the block next to the word Father was blank, not redacted just flat out not there. Callen furred his brow as he frowned at the offending lack of information but continued ready since he trusted Hetty and knew there must be a reason that information was left out.

"Graduated from Reseda High School in '97…well that's impressive." Callen said a little taken back at the fact that Deeks had graduated 10th out of a class of 524 students. "Pretty impressive Deeks…Legally changed his last name to Deeks at 18..received a full academic scholarship to Mount St. Mary's College here in law….Transfered to Abraham Lincoln Law School where he focus on Criminal Law….So our scruffy liaison is a Lawyer."

Callen continued to speed dread the front page of the file and found that after passing the California bar, which Callen knew was the single hardest bar to pass in the United States with an average of 35% of applicants passing the Bar Exam each year. After passing the Bar Deeks quickly went to work for the California Office of Public Defenders in Los Angeles in 2003.

Callen leaned back in his chair and reached for a still cold beer and took a long slow drink from it. The more he read about the man who had taken a bullet to save Sam and by extension Dominic continued to interest the Senior Special Agent of the OSP Team. Placing the piece of paper face down on the cover of the file Callen grabbed the next page and continued reading.

"So why did you become a cop Deeks? Sounds like you could have led a pretty easy and comfortable life as a Lawyer…..Oh wow. October 2003 Deeks was assigned to defend Mark Combs for the attempted murder of his wife and infant son. Mark was sentenced to 15 years but maintained that he was innocent…..five months after the trial Police arrested a man who matched Combs description on an unrelated case…..Forensics match the man's weapon to Combs case and he admitted to the attempted murder of Combs wife and son….But Combs had committed suicide in prison three weeks prior." Callen sat there for a few seconds stunned at what had happened during Deeks time as a Public Defender and the last court case he had seen. Callen looked at the information and was somewhat shocked as to why Deeks would resign from his join and join the LAPD after that.

The more Callen read the file Hetty had compiled of Detective Deeks the more the was interested and the more confused he became. Sure Deeks working as a Public Defender and then joining the Police Department might be one reason he was treated so poorly by his fellow officers, Cops normally tend to dislike lawyers who try to get their suspects out of a jail sentence but something wasn't making sense to the seasoned Federal Agent.

Deeks file stated that he was one of the top graduates in his class and requested to be placed in Precinct 13, South Central Los Angeles. This once again confused Callen because why would a former public defender chose to work in an area that had the highest crime rate in L.A. and where he was sure to run into some of his former clients. For the next two years Deeks worked in the 13th Precinct where he was awarded The Police Meritorious Medal as well as two Life Saving Medals and the Police Commissioner's Distinguished Service Medal. As Callen looked at the various situations and letters if commendation that accompanied the list of awards Deeks had received Callen couldn't deny two very real facts, Deeks was a damn good cop and a hero.

Page after page of Hetty's file on the blonde haired detective continued to shed light on why she was trying so hard to recruit Deeks for the NCIS Office of Special Projects. His experience as a undercover agent was without question, he was both street smart and educated which was a rare combination to come by without years of experience and training. As Callen flipped through a few more pages of Deeks career over view he finally found what he was looking for, Deeks training records with the LAPD.

"Ok Deeks. Let's see what makes you so….this I did not see coming. Weapons and Tactics, Psychological Profiling of Suspects, fluent in Spanish and with some formal training in Mandarin, Narcotics, Hostage Negotiation, Offensive Driving, Surveillance and Counter Surveillance as well as Witness Protection and a LAPD Counter Terrorism Officer….Well that explains why Hetty is so interested in you Deeks. The only difference between you and most Federal Agents is where you got the training." Callen look at the clock next to the bed he never slept in and noticed that it was three in the morning. While he was very comfortable with running on no sleep he knew that he should atleast attempt to get an hour or two before his day started since he never knew when the next time he would be able to sleep would be.

**California Hospital Medical Center**

NCIS Special Agent Dominic Vail had managed to get hold of a wheelchair and was currently sitting in it as he looked at the sleeping man who had saved his life, LAPD Detective Marty Deeks. Until his rescue Dom had never heard of Deeks but over the past couple of days he had asked everyone from his team as well at Hetty about the Detective and they had all told him that Deeks had been assigned as a Liaison Officer to coordinate investigates and what have you between to the branches of Law Enforcment. Naturally Dominic had assumed it was a administrative and logistic position where the Detective would be working in Ops to help things run smoothly, this of course had been wrong when he was told that Deeks had been assigned as Kensi's partner. Dominic had been afraid that he would lose his position with the team as 'punishment' for being captured but Hetty had assured him that was not the case. Of course with Deeks being Kensi's partner now and Sam and Callen being such a experienced team together it left Dom wondering what exactly his future at NCIS OSP would entail exactly. Would he be given more training and more active field work? Or would be simply go back to doing simple surveillance and working in Ops to help coordinate the agents in the field like he had been doing before his abduction two months ago, Dom was pulled from his thoughts when he heard Deeks groan in pain and noticed that the Detective was starting to wake up.

"Agent Vail?"

"Please just call me Dom Detective Deeks."

"Ok but only if you call me Deeks."

"Ok Deeks."

"So….What are you doing here at god knows what hour it is?"

Dom couldn't help but chuckle at Deeks, Kensi was right he liked to crack jokes. "I'm going to be discharged in the morning and I wanted to thank you in person before I go. The nurses tell me you've been sleeping a lot lately so I wanted to make sure I had a chance before I go."

"Yeah…well not much to do when you get shot by an AK-47 then sleep." Deeks said offhand but he didn't miss the look of guilt that crossed the younger man's face.

"I'm sorry that…."

"Don't be. It's not the first time I've been shot….although I don't recommend getting shot without a vest on. Really not a good way to have a long career if you know what I mean." Deeks said as he gave Dominic a half grin and was relieved to hear the NCIS Agent laugh lightly at his joke. "Well at least one of you guys has a sense of humor. Sam and Callen give me their weird looks like I'm talking to them in Parseltongue when I crack and joke and Kensi just gets this glazed over look in her eyes." Dominic couldn't help it and burst out laughing, something he hadn't been able to do during his time in captivity and it felt really good to do. Deeks waited for Dom's laugher to die down before he spoke up.

"So you're going to be ok then?"

"Yeah, just a broken ankle and a fractured Orbital Bone near my Left Eye."

"You gonna to be able to stay with NCIS?" Deeks asked since he knew that a weakened Orbital Bone could easily break again and could result in blindness of complete loss of the eye. Deeks could tell that Dom was in his mid-twenties and hated to think that he would lose his job just because of an injury like that.

"Yeah. The doctors fixed my ankle up and didn't have to put any pins or screws in it so I should recover fully."

"What about your eye?"

"They repaired it and after it heals they are going to re-examine it and make a decision then." Dom wasn't able to keep the worry out of his voice. Sure he had only been a NCIS Agent for a short time but he had been learning the ropes of the job and he really liked working with everyone at OSP. They had been taking the time to teach him what he would need to know to survive and treated him like and equal.

"That's good." Deeks said feeling tired form the conversation. It had only been a couple days since he had been shot and this much talking was kind of hard on his lungs, even with the breathing tube under his nose.

"So how long have you been working with NCIS Deeks?" Dom asked and he tried to keep his voice even but a slight edge of nervousness seeped into it.

"I'm not your replacement if that's what you're asking." Deeks said evenly as he figured out where the clean shaven Dominic's train of though was going. "I've only been the Liaison Officer for little over a month now. But I've been on assignment for LAPP for three of those weeks. I only got to work with your team for about two days before I went under."

"Oh I didn't mean to imply…" Dominic trailed off as he could tell that Deeks knew what he was saying was a lie. "Sorry it's just that I'm still a Probationary Agent with the team and I don't want to get assigned somewhere else. Especially after all of you came to get me."

"Well to be honest I didn't know you were in the theater. The others might have I just happened to be there trying to unwind after my last assignment. I saw Sam and Callen and could tell they were pissed about something and when I called Hetty she told me that they were following a man who could lead them to you."

"So why come help the team?"

Deeks simply shrugged his shoulders even though it hurt like hell. "Some people run away from a burning building."

"And other run into it." Dominic said as he nodded his head in understanding at the simple statement and what it really meant. "Well I just wanted to say thank you for helping them get me out of there and if you ever need anything let me know ok?" Dom offered his hand to Deeks and the two shook hands before Dom started to wheel himself out of the room.

"Hey Dom can you do something for me?"

"Yeah anything." The Federal Agent eagerly replied

"Ask one of the nurses when I can get my sponge bath?"

Dominic couldn't help but chuckle softly at Deeks question and the extremely hopeful look on his face. "Good night Deeks."


	4. Chapter 4

**California Hospital Medical Center**

The late morning sun was shining brightly as it illuminated Deeks room as rays of light cast them softs over his relaxed and sleeping features. However Deeks peaceful sleep was soon interrupted by the extremely agitated shouting coming from the hall.

"WHERE IS HE?!"

Deeks slowly opened his eyes at the sudden intrusion of his recent bout of sleep and he slowly moved his head side to side with narrowed eyes as he tried to figure out what was going on outside his room.

"NO I WON'T CALM DOWN! WHERE THE HELL IS THAT SELFISH ASSHOLE? I KNOW HE'S NOT DEAD BUT HE'S GONNA BE WHEN I FIND HIM!"

Deeks couldn't help but grin as he recognized Rays concerned and pissed off voice. As much as he wanted to shout at his friend he knew it would hurt too much so he grabbed his empty plastic cup and with his left hand he tossed it into the hallway hoping Ray would get the message, which he must have since he practically ran into the room a handful of seconds later.

"Marty!" Ray said relieved to see that his friend wasn't a pin cushion of tubes and machines like he had been afraid of after he had found of Deeks had been shot and was in the hospital. Jesus man you scared the hell out of me. You're lucky I don't shoot you myself." Ray said as his shoulder visibly slumped like a huge wait had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Well good morning to you to Ray." Deeks said softly as he slightly pushed himself up in bed and groan in pain as he still healing body protested the action.

"What the hell happened Marty? One minute we are walking down Broadway and the next I'm watching you get rushed into the back of an ambulance" Ray declared concerned for his friend as he moved to sit in a chair next to him.

"Bad guys, Hostage, gun fight." Deeks said simply. It wasn't that he didn't trust Ray; it's just that he wasn't sure what cover story had been given to the media so he kept his info to the most basic level. Deeks could tell Ray was about to ask him for some more information when the presence of two very alert NCIS Agents at the door stopped him.

"Deeks you ok?" Sam asked as he fixed a hard gaze at Ray while Callen looked around in the room before leveling Ray with his own intense glare.

"Yeah. Ray meet NCIS Special Agents Hannah and Callen. Guys meet Ray, well now that introductions are out of the way who brought the beer? Cause I could really go for an ice cold Rock Bottom if you have one." Deeks said jokingly as he tried to get everyone to calm down. Sure Ray had created a pretty big scene in the hallway but he was Deeks best friend, and one of three people who knew what had really happened the night of his eleventh birthday.

"Hey how you guys doing?" Ray said as he stood up and extended his hand towards the two agents who just kept staring at him.

"Sam." Deeks said in a mock warning tone. "Play nice. I grew up with Ray he was with me before everything happened." Even though he was acting like he was trying to make everyone play nice Deeks was secretly hoping that Ray wasn't connected to some weapons smuggling case that they two agents had worked before he had started working with them. Ray looked nervously between the large and well-built black NCIS Agent and his smaller but just as scary partner before he turned his attention to Deeks.

"Well I just wanted to make sure you're ok man….I….uh I'll come back later when I don't feel like I'm about to get my ass kicked." Ray said with a crocked grin and slightly jerked his head towards the Agents who still hadn't moved from the door way. "Take it easy Marty."

"It's the only way I do." Deeks said with his own crooked grin and nodded at Ray who left the room as Sam and Callen stepped aside to let him through.

"Ok seriously guys that was not cool. Ray is my best friend and he was just worried when he saw me get loaded into an ambulance after…" Deeks trailed off not really wanting to talk about taking a 7.62mm round to the chest. He knew he was damn lucky to be alive after getting shot with the high caliber assault weapon.

"You're right, sorry…It's just after this whole thing with Dom we're a little one edge when it comes to the team." Callen said as he relaxed a little bit and moved to stand at the foot of Deeks bed.

"Yeah I've been wondering about that. You guys said he had been kidnapped by Colombians and handed over to a terrorist cell but what was he doing in Los Angeles?" Deeks said as he looked at Callen and noticed there was something different about the way Callen was looking at him.

"What? Do I have Jell-O in my beard?" Sam half laughed from the doorway as he looked at Callen and shook his head in amusement.

"We're still trying to sort out all the details but so far we know that Dom was taken by members of a group called Talib al Jihadiya and wanted to trade him for their leader. To be honest we had no idea that Dominic was even there, we thought he was in Chad, Ethiopia, Sudan, or any other number of hotspots for terrorist training camps."

Callen moved to stand beside Deeks bed and looked down at him. "I owe you an apology Deeks, we all do. After Dom was taken we all took it pretty hard, and then when Hetty assigned you to the team and Dom's desk we over reacted and took it out on you. We were wrong and I'm sorry Deeks. I know that can't be changed but you're a good cop and a good man Deeks." Callen offered Deeks his left hand since he knew that Deeks would still be in a lot of pain form moving his right side. "You take care of yourself and we'll be waiting for you to come back." Deeks smiled at Callen and shook his hand. The OSP field leader nodded at Deeks and walked out of the room leaving Sam behind since he knew the Navy SEAL would want to talk to Deeks on his own after he took a bullet meant for him.

"I know I said a lot of things that I shouldn't have to do you Deeks and I know I can't take it back. But you risked your life to save me and Dom." Sam strong voice filled the small room but his posture made it seem that Sam was trying to make himself seem as small as he could. "I was an ass to you and I'm sorry."

"No I get it. I was the new kid on the playground."

"Still doesn't make it right. I know saying sorry for how I treated you is a pretty moot point and I can't go back and change that. But I can start over." Sam extended his well-muscled left arm to Deeks. "NCIS Special Agent Sam Hannah." Deeks half laughed and took the offered hand.

"Detective Marty Deeks, LAPD." After the two men shook hands Deeks leaned back in his bed.

"You get some rest Deeks but if you need anything you let me know ok?"

"Hey Sam. When you see Hetty can you tell her there is something in my apartment that I'd like her to take care of for me?"

"I can do that. What is it?"

"She'll know what it is." Deeks said cryptically but Sam decided not to push it since he saw Deeks eyelids slowly starting to droop.

It was later in the day when Deeks eyes slowly opened and he could tell from the fact that the sun was starting to dip into the Pacific Ocean that it had to be sometime around 8 p.m. "Today would have been a good day to go surfing." He said slightly dejected to himself.

"Oh I'm sure you have more important things to worry about Detective Deeks." Deeks turned his head and noticed a medium built African American man with a short business cut hair style and a thin mustache.

"Yeah…not really sure I would put talking to IA in the 'more important than surfing' category. Don't get me wrong I really do enjoy having you guys taking weeks and months to pick apart everything little thing I do when I have a hand full of second to make a decision, plus those little steel chairs are so comfortable." Deeks said sarcastically as he tried to get a read on his unknown visitor. "So tell me. What makes someone go from being a cop to an asshole who sits behind a desk all day?"

"I Look like Internal Affairs?" The man asked with a bit of amusement in his voice at Deeks.

"Well except for the 500 dollar suit you're wearing. Or does the Rat Squad get a premium for trying to screw guys over?"

"It's one thousand dollars and was a gift from my wife when I was promoted to the Director of NCIS." Leon Vance said as he leveled a glare at Deeks.

"She has good taste." Deeks replied nervously since he had just insulted Hetty's boss and his wife. "What can I do for you Director?" He added hoping to get past the whole 'you look like Internal Affairs and I already hate your guts for it' talk they had just had.

"First I wanted to thank you for your part in the rescue of Agent Vail. I've read the reports and I know you were their off duty and still chose to do what you did to help my Agents. I just have one question for you. Why did you choose to go to the roof instead of going after Agent Callen and the others?"

"I grew up not too far from that theater, even worked there as a kid in high school. I figured the layout couldn't have changed that much. Plus form the looks of Sam and Callen I figured running up behind them in a building without comms was a good way to get myself shot." Deeks replied and he couldn't help but grin at the irony of his words. "Looks like I got myself shot anyways."

"But why the roof?" Vance asked curiously as he stepped into the room and put his hands in his pockets.

"Something Sam said to me one time. I wanted to know how the SEALS handle a building assault so I asked him 'If you have to assault a multiple story building with bad buys in it how would you do it?' Sam told me that he would use two teams, one would enter from the ground floor the other from the roof." Deeks said as he adjusted himself in the bed so he as more into a sitting up position then reclining. "After I thought about it it made a lot of sense. If you just send in one team from the floor and work up the bad guys get cornered and con focus on you. Send in two and they have to fight on both fronts and you can box them in. I figured when the shooting started that everyone inside would be focused on Sam, Callen and Kensi and I could get them from behind."

"Impressive Detective, you were able to put a solid plan together without any of the facts about who or what was inside and had the team's best interest in mind." Vance said knowing he would have done the same thing if he had been in Deeks's position. "Which brings us to the second reason I'm here. By now you've probably figured out that Hetty's office doesn't actually need a Liaison Officer with the LAPD. Miss Lange was probably planning on doing this at a later date but having read your file…"

"Wait you read my file?" Deeks asked nervously since there were a few things in there he didn't want anyone to know about, especially the people who could send him back to LAPD where he was treated like dog shit on a daily basis.

"I have and there's nothing to suggest I shouldn't do what I'm about to."

'_Well it was bound to happen eventually Marty. These are all high level operators you should have known they would have found out that you shot your dad when you were eleven.'_ Deeks mentally said to himself and prepared to get fired from his Liaison position.

"Inside this envelope you will find an application to NCIS along with the address to my office. I would like you to fill it out and mail it to me once you've recovered." Vance said as he pulled the mentioned item from inside his jackets breast pocket and placed it on the rolling tray over Deeks lap.

"Wait what?" This was the complete opposite of what Deeks had been expecting to come from the Directors mouth

"It's an open invitation to join NCIS. Deeks your record is exemplary and to be honest I'm actually surprised you haven't been approached by any other Federal Agency or at the very least been approached about a better position with LAPD." Vance said calmly and truthfully to the recovering Detective.

"How do you know I haven't?" Deeks asked both jokingly in seriously

"When Hetty Lange contacted me and recommended you for this position she assured me she had already vetted you. Now I trust Hetty but when someone like Ms. Lange makes that kind of move I do my own digging and I completely agree with her. NCIS and the Office of Special Projects would greatly benefit from someone with your skills and background." Vance moved closer to Deeks bed and looked at the white piece of paper he had placed on the tray. "That's an open invitation Detective but I would appreciate if I find it in on my desk by the time you're healed up. Have a good night." Vance said as he walked out of the room leaving Deeks to his thoughts.

After thinking about what had just happened Deeks slowly reached out and took the envelope in his hands and just sat their staring at it for a few minutes before he opened it and pulled out the application. As he unfolded the three pages of the application Deeks couldn't help but chuckle when he noticed that everything except for the date and his signature had been filled out and a smile spread across his face.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I really want to thank those of you who have favorite, followed and reviewed this story. That and your support really means a lot to me so thank you all!**

**California Hospital Medical Center**

Kensi was standing in the main lobby of the hospital and was standing a few feet away from a bank of elevators and was stalling. It wasn't that she didn't want to visit or see Deeks, She had been worried sick about him when they had loaded him in the hospital and he had started to go into Ventricular-Tachycardia sending the already frantic EMT's into over drive to save his life. That along with the fact that she had never lost a co-worker or partner before and her natural 'hatred' of hospitals Kensi had been putting this off. But now it had been three days since Deeks had been rushed to the hospital and she knew she owed him a visit for saving her partner.

Taking a deep breath Kensi reached out and pressed the elevator's call button and stood there and couldn't help but wonder how Deeks would react to her showing up. He was sure that everyone else had already talked to Deeks and it made her feel like crap for taking so long to see him. As Kensi waited for the elevator to take her to the 7th floor she felt herself getting more and more on edge and nervous feeling. Once the metal box finally reached its destination Kensi couldn't get out of the elevator fast enough, it wasn't that she was claustrophobic but the elevator would had started to feel like they were closing in on her which she knew was silly. Kensi shook her head at herself, she was acting like a rookie agents going undercover for the first time and made her way to the Nurse's Station in the middle of the ICU floor.

"Hi can you help me? I'm looking for Detective Martin Deeks." Kensi said politely to one of the nurses.

"And you are?"

"Special Agent Kensi Blye, NCIS." Kensi replied as she held up her badge and then flipped it over so that the nurse could look at her credentials and I.D. Card. The nurse gave it a quick glance and then began typing on her computer.

"He's in Room 709."

"Thank you.' Kensi said as she put up her badge in her back pocket and turned around to look for the room. After a short search Kensi found herself standing in front of the window looking into Deeks room and she was surprised that Deeks wasn't a pin cushion of tubes and wires like she had been afraid of. Instead he had an oxygen tank next to him and some oxygen tubing with a nasal cannulas that ran from over the top of his ears and rested under his nose. Kensi let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding at the sight of Deeks. As she stood their looking at her partner she watched his eyes slowly flutter open before his deep blue eyes focused on her and he slowly smiled at her.

"Hey you." She said as she moved through the rooms door way and stood beside his bed.

"Hey." Deeks said with a little grin as he looked up at her.

"How are you feeling Deeks?"

"Oh pretty good now. I was wondering when you would show up." He said evenly not really mad at her.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner…it's just that hospitals creep me out." Kensi told him the half-truth and put her hands on the railing of the hospital bed, as she did so she quickly gave him a once over with her eyes which didn't go unnoticed by the LAPD Detective.

"Trying to picture me without and clothes on Agent Blye? Not that it would be a pretty picture right now…unless you're into a guys with scars." He teased her and smiled when she rolled her eyes at his comment.

"Are you seriously hitting on me?" she asked half offended and half confused at his antics.

"Well its better then talking about the obvious."

"And what exactly is that?" Kensi asked wondering where he was going with this.

"Why my partner wasn't the first person to come see me." He said a little hurt. Sure things between him and the NCIS Agents had been rocky but he had been hoping that it would give him a fresh start professionally where he wouldn't be treated like he was at LAPD. After getting shot it seemed that everyone at NCIS was willing to do just that, but then again saving one of theirs and the resulting guilt they were feeling might have something to do with that.

Kensi opened her mouth to reply but she didn't have a good reason that didn't sound like a load of crap to her and just stood there before she looked down at the ground.

"See that's why I don't wanna talk about it." Deeks said as he put his hand on hers and gave it a soft pat. He smiled at her as she looked up at him and pointed to the chair next to his bed. "So are you guys working on a new case yet?" He asked quickly to change the subject.

"No, Hetty is deflecting them away from us for now since we are still focusing on Kalil and the man the terrorist wanted to trade Dominic for." She said as she sat in the chair and was grateful for the change of subject.

"How's that going?"

"Not too good. Someone has Ala A Din Keshwar but no one is owning up to it yet. He's a pretty high value target so we think someone is going to use his capture to play politics with the other Agencies." Kensi informed him and leaned back in her chair as she looked at him. "What about the deep cover you went on? Last time I saw you it sounded like you would be gone for a while."

Deeks raised his eyebrows and kinda shrugged his shoulder. "Got lucky I guess. Local Gang had ties to a cartel from Mexico that was smuggling girls and drugs into the country. DEA had an agent already in with them and once he found out who I was we shared Intel and were able to wrap up the case pretty quickly."

"You've been undercover for two months and you call that quick?" Kensi asked kinda of shocked. Sure she had done some undercover work but nothing like Sam or Callen who had been undercover for up to a year or longer before.

"You've never really done any deep cover work before have you Fern?" Deeks ask using the name he had given her joking around in the middle of the first case they had worked together.

"I really hate that name." She said as she half glared at him and he just grinned at her, the same grin he had given her the last time he called that. One that was cocky and playful at the same time.

"I know. You still didn't answer my question."

"No nothing that requires complete backstopping. Normally I go in like we did last time." She said.

"Oh. Well yeah two months into a deep cover assignment is fast. Like Quicksilver fast."

"Quicksilver?"

"Super-fast mutant kinda like the Flash. Forget it you probably…"

"Yeah son of Magneto I know who Quicksilver is." Kensi replied smugly

"Wha…how do you know that?"

"My Dad's old comic book collection." She said with a smile at the surprised look on his face. "You still have yours?"

"Of course. DC and Marvel I have some pretty cool ones. What's your favorite story line?"

"Death in the family." She replied referring to the single most famous Batman storyline. "What about you?"

"Spiderman's Clone Saga." He replied with a grin. "Who would have thought that bad-ass Kensi Blye is a comic nerd. I might have to start calling you Black Widow."

"Except I'm not Russian or a redhead."

"True…looks like your Wonder Woman then." Deeks said with a grin the reached his eyes as he looked at her.

"Compliment accepted." She said as she smiled back at him before the two slipped into an easy conversation about nothing in particular.

**NCIS Office of Special Projects**

"You did what?"

"You heard me correctly Hetty. I offered him a job with NCIS. Everything in his file indicates your Office would benefit from his skill set."

"That's not the issue. You of all people Director should know you can't just rush these things. Not only is Detective Deeks highly qualified but he is also extremely dedicated to his job." Hetty said as she glared up at Leon Vance her face a blank mask from years of experience in the spy game but Director Vance knew she was extremely mad at him right now. "Why else do you think he would stay with a Department that treats him with scorn and ridicule?"

"Which is why I made the play I did. Every intelligence agency is looking at this cause because of the circumstances surrounding it. It's only a matter of time before they all approach him with job offers. You and I both know this, but by offering him a job myself it lets him know that not only your team but the Director of a Federal Agency is grateful for his actions. That combined with you creating his position here gives us the best possible chance of recruiting him." Vance countered Hettty's understandable anger with logic and sound reasoning before he sat in one of the chairs across from her desk.

"We both know that if one of the other agencies really wants him they won't be opposed to using underhanded tactics to get him to work for them. This way Deeks is given the choice to join us freely. Besides we both know you want him to be an Agent with this office. I just gave him a little push in the right direction."

"And what if he pushes back? I know you've done your own digging into his past so I have to ask how much do you really know about Detective Deeks Leon?"

"Everything, including what you tried very hard to bury about his childhood."

"I see." Hetty said not really surprised that Vance had uncovered the fact that Deeks had shot his father on his eleventh birthday to protect his mother and himself. "I'd almost forgotten have very good you can be at this game Leon. In fact I dare say your time in D.C. has made you even better at it." She said with a smug grin of her own and reached out to her favorite tea cup and took it in her hands slowly inhaling it rich and exotic aroma.

"How much of your file on Deeks did you give to Callen?"

"Only what he needs to know about Deeks to make him see just how valuable the Detective will be to his team."

Vance nodded his head at this and mentally agreed that the team did not need to know about Deeks past, at least not yet. "I also have one more personnel matter I wanted to discuss with you before I head back to D.C. tomorrow."

"And what exactly is that Director Vance?"

"I wasn't aware of your office having a K-9 officer Hetty." Vance said as he pointed at a particularly scruffy looking grey dog laying a few feet from where Hetty was sitting. When the mentioned dog picked up its head to look at Hetty then Vance the NCIS Director gave his longtime friend a half smile.

"Let's just say I'm helping to pay back a debt to a college." She answered quickly before taking a sip of her tea. As she placed the fine china porcelain cup that was older then her on the tea saucer she and Vance shared a small smile.

"Well I have one last meeting with the FBI then a plane to catch back to D.C." Vance said as he looked at his watch and slowly stood as did Hetty. "I trust you'll keep me up to date on Agent Vail and Detective Deeks recovery?"

"But of course Director." Hetty said as she shook hands with the much taller NCIS Director and watched him walk out of the building. After a while Callen and walked up to Hetty's desk and stood there. "Something I can do for you Mr. Callen?"

"I just got off the phone with Agent Fornell." He said as he looked at her and noticed that a dog had taken up residence behind her desk which threw him off a bit but then again he shouldn't be surprised since Hetty always seemed to be throwing him curve balls lately. "Um...what is that?" He asked as he pointed at the dog.

"It's a dog Mr. Callen." She replied in a deadpan manner after looking at the animal in question then back to Callen. "And how is Tobias?"

"Good…he wanted to know about Deeks. Background, skillset…basically everything you would ask someone's supervisor when they applied for a new job….Hetty did Deeks apply to join the F.B.I.?"

"Not that I'm aware of Mr. Callen. What did you tell Agent Fornell?" Hetty inquired as she kept her facial expressions unreadable. It appeared that Director Vance's prediction was on the money and Agencies were already trying to get their hands on her latest recruitment project.

"Just that Deeks is a ok cop who was assigned as a Liaison to our office to help us better coordinate between the LAPD and NCIS." Callen said as he looked at his boss and longtime friend as he tried to figure out what was going on. "Hetty is there something I should know about?"

"No…nothing that affects you Mr. Callen. Now seeing as we have no active cases and if you and Mr. Hannah's paperwork is up to date I see now reason that you two cannot leave work early today and enjoy a slightly longer than normal weekend." Hetty said effectively ending the conversation as she stood up from her chair and walked to the back of her office.

"Good night Hetty."

"Good night Mr. Callen."

Hetty waited until both Sam and Callen had left the old Water Plant Administration Build that was the current home to the OSP before she retrieved the leash she had taken from Deek's apartment when she retrieved his dog. "Did you know Monty that I once met the man for whom you are named after?" She idly asked the dog who tilted his head and perked his ears at her. "Like most famous generals he was exceedingly egotistical but was a brilliant tactician. Now let's see what's on your beloved NPR and get you something to eat that is far more suitable than that awful dried dog food Mr. Deeks feeds you shall we?" She asked the dog as she latched his leash into place and let the dog to her Jaguar. "And this time you will not put your paws on the paint of my car. Is that understood?" The Operations Manger spoke in a half stern tone with a pointed finger at Monty who put his head down and gave her a dejected sounding whine before the two walked out of the office.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So first off just an interesting bit of trivia about this story. While it is a fanfic and an AU story at this I actually use real locations and objects, just food for thought lol. Secondly I have the best reviewers ever, of all time! And thirdly (third) you guys rock and I love you so here's a new chapter lol**

**Dominic Vail's Apartment**

Dominic suddenly shot up in bed with his Sig-Saur in his hands and frantically pointed at every corner in his bed room. A fine coat of sweat covered his body and his chest was heaving heavily as he struggled to get his breath and heartbeat under control. After a few tense minutes Dom finally let his gun hand drop to his lap and he ran his free hand over his face to remove the sweat that was rolling freely over his features. Dom reached out with a shaky hand to the glass of water and bottle Prazosin before he popped two of them into his mouth and quickly chased them down with a very long drink of water.

This was his first night home after being released from the hospital and already he had been woken up by a noise from outside his apartment. Looking at the clock on his nightstand Dominic frowned when he saw that it was only one in the morning and he had gone to bed a little after ten. Dom ran his hand over his recently shaved head and wondered if this was normal and how long it would take to get over it. Unsure of what to do and knowing he wasn't going to get any sleep he reached for his phone and called the one person he knew he wouldn't be bothering at this hour, Special Agent G. Callen.

Callen was actually spending the night in the boatshed and was putting the coffee maker back together when his phone rang. When the caller ID informed him Dominic was calling he quickly answered it.

"Dom. Is everything ok?" He said jumping to his feet ready to rush to the aid of the probationary agent if need be.

"Yeah….Kind of having a hard time sleeping is all." Dom haggard voice answered him and Callen could tell that Dom sounded out of breath.

"Nightmares?"

"Yeah…That and every little noise outside is waking me up." The junior agent sheepishly replied.

"I can be there in about 30 minutes. Maybe having someone there will help you sleep."

"Callen you don't have to do that."

"I know but it's the least I can do. Besides we both know I'm already up. I'll see you in a bit."

"Thank you Callen."

"Don't mention it." Callen hung up before slipping his leather jacket on and dropping his cellphone into his coat pockets before turning out the lights on the boatshed and locking the door behind him on his way out of the building.

**California Hospital Medical Center**

Deeks was sitting up in his bed as he looked at the rather large number of Job Applications that seemed to be getting bigger the longer the day went. So far he had been approached by the FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE and a few other Federal Agencies, most of which he had never heard of before. Of course his personal favorite from the alphabet soup was the Office of National Counterintelligence. It was just fun to say "ONC" especially since it sounded like oink and had really gotten under the skin of the special agent who was sent to deliver it to him. Deeks had to grin at that particular memory.

"I'm glad to see you are doing much better Detective." Hetty's voice pulled him from his memories.

"Morning Hetty…If you're here to offer me a job I would tell you to get in line but Director Vance already did so." Deeks said as he as he held up Vance's envelope before setting it down on the rolling tray that covered his lap. Hetty took noticed of the fact that Deeks placed the item they were discussing off to the side instead of in the pile with the other job applications, many of which had a business card attached to them via paperclip.

"Ah….I feel I owe you and apology Mr. Deeks." Hetty said as she moved into his room and stood at the foot of Deeks bed.

"Apology for what?"

"Why all of this of course." Hetty exclaimed louder than a normal conversational tone as she motioned to the mound of papers. "By creating your position with NCIS, and your subsequent heroism in the rescue of Agent Vail you have been placed on the radar of every investigative federal agency in our government."

"Why I wanted to ask you about that. Vance said something yesterday about my job with you guys." Deeks said as he looked Hetty in the eyes and was completely serious at the moment. "Why exactly did you want me as your Liaison Officer? I'm sure you know my reputation in the LAPD, and you guys can always play the 'national security' card and take a case form us if you want to." Deeks watched as Hetty sighed and looked down and to the left, which told Deeks that she was collecting her thoughts.

"As the Operational Manager it is not only my job to oversee the investigations conducted by my agents, but to also keep an eye out for potentially new agents who have various skills that would make them a valuable asset for the Office of Special Projects. And you Detective, are indeed one such person."

Deeks sat their completely confused at what Hetty had told him. "But I'm just a cop who happens to be good at undercover work."

"But you are so much more than just a simple police officer Detective. You, much like Mr. Callen, poses an innate natural talent for undercover work that cannot be taught. You are more than just a simple job description and to do so is a gross underestimate of you as a person and your abilities, as is evident by the sheer number of application before you. A number that, unfortunately I believe, will increase as your time here increases and dare I say well past your release from this hospital."

"So you're saying I should accept Director Vance's offer?" Deeks said in an even tone of voice but inwardly he felt as if he was being pressured into a corner. But he relaxed slightly when Hetty held up her hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Far be it for me to tell you what you should and should not do Detective." Hetty softly replied to him.

"If it were you in my position what would you do? I mean sure me and everyone else got off to a rocky start but that's normal anytime someone new joins a team that is used to working together. And since rescuing Agent Vail everyone has come by and visited me…"

"While you have yet to receive so much as a phone call from anyone within Lt. Bates division." Hetty finished sadly for the young Detective laying before her. "I won't lie to you Detective I do want to tell you to accept Director Vance's offer. But ultimately the choice is yours."

"You still haven't answered my question Hetty." Deeks replied evenly and he looked at her expectantly. He was unsure of how he felt about this entire situation and he felt like he could trust Hetty.

"Before I do Mr. Deeks will you humor me and answer a few of my own questions?"

Deeks couldn't help but grin at Hetty's response and gave her a playful yet curious gaze. "Do I really have a choice here?"

"Not really." Hetty replied cheekily and smiled at him. "As I understand it your first call was to Lt. Bates requesting LAPD assistance for my agents. After that you called me and then moved to assist them. Why?" Hetty's voice was calm and more interested than interrogative. She watched as Deeks looked down and scratched his head, a move she had come to associate as a nervous tic of the man before her.

"I don't really know why I did. I saw them and thought they might need my help."

"I see. Mr. Callen has informed me that when he first spoke to you after your shooting you were more concerned with your co-workers then yourself. Is this correct?"

Deeks didn't reply and he simply nodded in agreement with her questions and watched her as she moved from the foot of his bed to the left side of it placing her back to the door.

"My last question for you Mr. Deeks then I shall answer your question. Agreed?" Hetty waited for Deeks to nod his head in agreement with her before she went in for the kill, as it were. "Do you feel you have more of a home with NCIS, or with LAPD?"

Deeks looked down at his lap as he thought about what Hetty had just asked him. She had set him up perfectly for this and he had walked right into it, and truth be told he wasn't made at all about it. In fact he was grateful because it was a question he had been avoiding ever since his first case with the team of NCIS Agents. "With NCIS." Said softly as he looked up at her and his internal struggle was visible on his face.

"Then yes Mr. Deeks I would accept the Director's offer if I was in your position." She said in a motherly tone of voice to him and put one hand on his forearm.

"Do you have a pin I can borrow?"

Hetty nodded as she reached into her purse and produced a rather expensive and elegant looking pin before offering to him. Deeks accepted the offered writing utensil and held in carefully in his hands as he looked at it, as he did so Deeks noticed the pin looked like I cost more than he made in a month.

"As soon as you walked into the room I never stood a chance did I?"

"Not many do Mr. Deeks." Hetty smiled at him as Deeks dated and signed the application that Director Vance had given him before he placed it back in the envelope and handed it to Hetty.

Before Deeks returned Hetty's pen back to her he flipped one of the many applications he had received over and the pointed at the trash can in the corner. "Can you get that for me Hetty?"

Interested in what the unpredictable Detective had in mind Hetty retrieved the item in question and handed it to Deeks. The blonde Detective quickly scribbled something in large bold writing on the back of the FBI application and then folded the top of it before placing it on the trash can. After Deeks had put the other application in their appropriate place in the trash he turned the small plastic container so that Hetty could view his handy work.

'Human Resources'

Read the piece of paper and he grinned at his new boss like the Cheshire cat, who in turned laughed and clapped twice softly. "Well played Mr. Deeks. Now then, you focus on getting better. I look forward to your return to the Office, as I'm sure are the others. Would you like me to tell them or would you rather do the honors yourself?"

"Can we wait until I can come back to work and get whatever secret agent training I have to go through to make it official?"

"If that's what you want Mr. Deeks. In the meantime I shall continue to look after Monty for you." With that Hetty patted Deeks forearm and made to leave the room. "Do take care of yourself Mr. Deeks."

**Eight Months Later**

The four Special Agents were sitting in the bullpen going through their various morning routines. Sam was meditating in the corner; Kensi and Dom were reading e-mails while Callen was at his desk working on the word search in the LA Times.

"When is the new agent supposed to get here?" Nate Getz, the teams Operational Psychologist asked as he walked over to an empty chair and sat down in it.

"Five minutes ago." Callen replied as he was looking for the word 'vector' in his little brain puzzle.

"Why do we need another agent?" Kensi asked as she looked up from her computer. "I mean it's crowded enough in here as it is. And when Deeks gets back from his undercover assignment we will barely have room to breathe in here let alone do any work with a new agent around."

"So does that mean you missed me fern?" Deeks voice rang out as he walked into the bullpen and was quickly greeted by everyone. Kensi pulled Deeks into a friendly hug before he could put his bags down, only to punch him in the arm shortly after she let go of him.

"That's for not telling me you were going under as soon as you were cleared to do so." She said in a superior tone with a playful grin on her face. Everyone else warmly greeted Deeks in a less physically abusive manner.

"Mr. Deeks welcome back." Hetty said as she walked up to the impromptu welcoming party with her hands behind her back.

"Thanks Hetty." Deeks replied with a grin. To everyone else it was Just Deeks being happy to see his friends again; after all they all assumed he had spent the last two months on an undercover assignment for the LAPD. "So what are you guys doing?"

"Waiting on Hetty's new agent to show up." Sam said as he looked at his watch. "Almost ten minutes late, not a very good first impression."

"No it most certainly is not." Hetty said as she looked at Sam while keeping her hands behind your back"

"So any idea where he is?" Deeks asked since he assumed that Hetty was letting him have some fun at the team's expense.

"And what makes you so sure that the new agent is in fact a he and not a she?" Kensi asked Deeks with a dangerous look in her eyes.

"Law of averages Kensi. There are four male agents and only one female agent." Deeks replied quickly as he grinned at Kensi.

"I think Deeks here has been hanging around to many meth heads." Sam teased Deeks about his

Math.

"On the contrary Mr. Hannah, according to the last personnel update there are in fact four male agents with this team." Hetty chimed in as a confused look took over everyone's face.

"So you're saying the new agent is a guy?" Kensi asked somewhat dejected hoping that she wouldn't remain the only woman on the team and by extension get out of being the eye candy for every bad guy they seemed to run across.

"I'm afraid so my dear." Hetty replied. "Now if everyone has suitably welcomed back Mr. Deeks I believe it is time to begin today's activities of paperwork and training our newest agent."

"But he's not even here Hetty. In fact he's twelve minutes late now."

"Are you sure about that Mr. Hannah?"

"Of course I'm sure Hetty, and before you say it yes my watch is on the correct time. The only person to walk in this morning other than us is…" Sam trailed off as he started connect the dots and turned his gaze to his partner and friend.

"There goes the neighborhood." Callen said as he made the connection the same time that Sam did. "Next thing you know she'll be taking in strays."

"Well there is that grey dog that shows up at Hetty's desk from time to time."

"Hey Monty is not a stray. He's a retired bomb detection dog from LAPD." Deeks said instinctively defending his pet.

"That mangy grey mutt is your dog?" Sam asked somewhat surprised at this bit of news.

"Yes Mr. Hannah Monty does indeed belong to Mr. Deeks. I graciously agreed to watch him while Mr. Deeks was recovering." Hetty said agitatedly as she had come to grow found of the animal they were discussing. "Now Mr. Deeks I believe you will be needing these." Hetty informed him as she produced a large and bulky manila envelope from behind her back and held it out for Deeks who accepted it with a smile and nod of his head. "I was able to get a Berretta 92FS as you request, though I suggest you spend some time in the firing range to familiarize yourself with it since it is a 40 Smith and Wesson instead of the 9x19mm Parabellum rounds you are used from your time with the LAPD." Hetty informed his as she pointed her left index finger at the package in Deeks hand before she turned around and walked to her office.

"Wait what's wrong with your Berretta?" Kensi asked as she was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Nothing, it's just that NCIS uses a bigger round then LAPD." Deeks replied with a shrug of his shoulders and opened package Hetty had just given him.

"I could have told you that. Still doesn't explain…." The rest of Kensi's words were cut off as Deeks slid the contents of the oversized envelope onto the table revealing his new sidearm, three magazines, a Premium Fleet Card just like the one she had for filling on her car, and a brand new shiny NCIS badge. "Oh my god….you mean I'm stuck with you for good now?" Kensi practically whined like a child begging for a certain type of cereal.

Deeks looked at her with a huge grin as Callen spoke up in the background. "Like I said, there goes the neighborhood." Callen walked over to Deeks and shook his hand. "Congratulations Deeks. Now as the Senior Agent on the team Sam is in charge of additional training for all Probationary Agents. Now normally that wouldn't be a problem, but it is your first day…"

"And you were late." Sam added as he walked up to stand in front of Deeks and glared at him. "Hand to hand training in the gym. Five minutes." Sam said sternly before he and Callen walked past a now very and understandably nervous Agent Deeks before they both let a small grin appear.


	7. Chapter 7

Deeks quickly finished changing into his gym clothes and grabbed his MMA training gloves and a towel from his locker before he rushed from the locker room and into the gym, where he spotted Sam and Callen barefoot on the rolled out grappling mat but they were still in their street clothes. "Um…I thought we were doing hand to hand training." Deeks said slightly confused.

"We are." Sam said as he took a couple steps forward so that there was a handful of feet between him and Deeks, while Callen was behind him and off to his left side. "We all know that in a fist fight your good. I'm guessing your time at FLETC made you better. But let's see how you are in a two on one fight." Suddenly Sam lashed out with a right jab at Deeks face while Callen rushed at Deeks.

Deeks quickly slapped the punch from Sam to the side and turned to face Callen. Deeks grabbed Callen's wrist and rolled backwards, placing his foot in Callen's stomach and using the team leader momentum against him Deeks launched Callen into the air before rolling to his feet and turning to face Sam. The two men exchanged a few blows that either didn't connect or were blocked. Suddenly Deeks felt himself being grabbed behind and was quickly was put into a full nelson by Callen and Sam landed a few half strength blows to Deeks ribs, taking care not to hit Deeks too had since this was training . Deeks grunted with each hit since they still stung a little bit and when Sam pulled back to hit him in the face Deeks snapped his right foot out full force and hit Sam square in the stomach.

This doubled Sam over and sent him stumbling back a few steps, which was long enough for Deeks to force his hands together and he tightly clasped them. Jerking his elbows down towards his stomach Deeks was able to unclench Callen's hands from the back of his neck, effectively freeing himself from the hold. Deeks quickly moved to place his left leg behind Callen's right leg and turned his wait and pushed one elbow into the side of Callen's head tripping up his team leader and lightly tapped Callen on the side of his head with his right foot simulating a knock out kick. Turned to take Sam one on one Deeks found himself face to face with a red rubber training gun that was modeled after a Glock 19, and he froze not expecting this little twist Sam had thrown at him.

"Bang." Sam in a tone that let Deeks know this sparring match was over. "Mr. and Mrs. Deeks we regret to inform you that your son Special Agent Martin Deeks was killed today in the line of duty."

The tone that Sam used sent a chill running down Deeks spine. Sure his parents would never heard that since he had no idea where his dad was, and he hadn't seen or talked to his mom since he had quit being a lawyer and joined the LAPD. Nodded his head Deeks put both hands on his hips and took a deep long breath through his nose to get his breathing back under control. Behind him Deeks heard Callen climbing to his feet and as the older man walked past him he gave Deeks a friendly pat on the back.

"Not bad Deeks. But there were a couple things you should have done differently."

Kensi and Dom had been standing in the doorway and watched this two on one sparring fight with interest. They had both been through this little training session with Sam and Callen before in the past and they had both ended up in the same position as Deeks, a simulated fatality. Dom took a step forward but Kensi quickly stopped him as she grabbed his left bicep. "Just wait Dom; he needs this just like we did when we went through it." She said softly. While her and Deeks had been partners during Dom's abduction they had also formed an easy going friendship which consisted of the same playful bickering and teasing that they had while working together. Which meant that Kensi wanted to help Deeks deal with Sam and Callen, she also knew that he needed this training. Being the teams LAPD Liaison Officer had been one thing but know he was a NCIS Agent and an official part of the Office of Special Projects.

"Deeks switch places with me." Sam said as he patted Deeks on the arm and pointed to where he had been standing. "Ok now slowly throw out a right jab." Sam said after he and Deeks switched places. When Deeks did as instructed he watched intently as Sam stepped into the punch and raised his right forearm at an angle and continued to push up against the punch he had just thrown. At the same time Callen walked forward to Sam getting in the same position he had when they started the training match. "Now watch closely." Sam said as he spun his fist outwards and then brought it back to his chest effectively trapping Deeks elbow in place.

"Now G is coming in ready to tackle me and take me to the ground while I'm busy with the first punch." Sam said as he pointed at his partner and kept light pressure on Deeks elbow not wanting to hurt the new agent. "When we attacked you reacted like most people would. But when you do what I'm doing you can control the first attacker and then kick the second attacker in the face." Sam acted like he had kicked Callen who simply took a knee putting himself out of the fight.

"Ok so what do you do after that Sam?" Deeks asked as he was taking this serious since he knew it could very well save his life one day.

Sam brought his left hand up with his palm open and towards Deeks. "From this position I can do almost anything I want to you Deeks." Sam put his left hand on Deeks bicep and applied a little pressure. "I can dislocate of break your elbow." Sam placed his right foot against the back of Deeks knee. "I can take you down and subdue you." As he said this Deeks was looking at the hold Sam hold him and studying it before looking at Sam.

When Deeks looked back of at Sam the large former Navy SEAL pulled a large black plastic training knife from behind his waist and pressed it against Deeks neck where his charioted artery was. "Oh I can kill you." The emotionless tone of voice along with the hardened look in Sam's eyes made Deeks gulp involuntarily. After a couple seconds to let the message sink in Sam slowly let go of Deeks and then dropped the knife on the ground. "Come on lets work on that hold a couple times until you get it down." Sam said reverting back to his normal conversational tone. When Deeks nodded and got in a relaxed but ready stance Sam stepped back from him and slowly threw out his right hand and walked Deeks through the counter step by step.

As the two men worked of getting the hold down perfectly Callen excused himself and gathered his boots and socks before making his way to the door that Dom and Kensi were standing in. "Anything I can do for you two?" He said as he walked to the bullpen and the two junior agents fell into step behind him.

Kensi was the first to speak up as she nervously looked from Dominic then back to Callen. "We…I was wondering since Deeks is back and both he and Dom are my partners…."

"Let me guess. You want to know who is going to be partners with who since Deeks is an NCIS Agent and not just our Liaison Officer anymore, right?" Callen said as he pulled on his socks and began lacing up his boots.

"Not just Kensi Callen. Since I've been back and am no longer probationary I've been going out in the field and even a few short term cover assignments." Dom said as he jumped into the conversation not wanting all of this to fall on Kensi's shoulders. "It's just that I really don't want to be stuck in Ops all the time. I know I'm good with computer forensic and the information gathering but."

"But your also a field agent and would like to stay one." Callen said as he finished putting on his boots and stood up to look at the two partners before him. "I'm not really sure what the final team assignments are going to be just yet. For now while Deeks is on his probationary period with us I'll have rotating partners with him, which means that since you're the junior agent on the team Dom you'll be running solo from time to time."

"Really? You mean it?" Dominic Vail asked excitedly at the vote of confidence from his team leader.

"Really. You've been with us long enough now and you are more than capable of handling yourself. Besides I know about the extra training sessions Sam has been putting you through since you came back." Callen said as he smiled at Dom before walking out of the bullpen and went to look for Hetty since he didn't see the Operations Manager at her desk.

Making his way up to the Operations Center of the building Callen walked in calmly the teams Technological Operations Manager Eric Beale sitting at his desk typing away furiously. "Eric…what are you doing?"

Eric suddenly froze in his chair and slowly turned around to face Callen with a guilty look on his face. "Um…..Well I thought that the FBI was holding back certain parts of its terrorist watch list database…and I am hacking into their database at the Hoover building to get full access to it."

Callen half frowned at Eric and shook his head. "You're still pissed off about the Ricardo case aren't you?" Callen asked referring to the Weapons case they had closed a few weeks ago where a Marine Lance Corporal, Joshua Ricardo, had been stealing weapons from a weapons depot on Camp Pendleton and was selling them to members of the East Side Longos, a gang that Ricardo had been part of. During the case they had run into some stiff interference from the FBI and they had made the mistake of crossing the MIT graduate who was also an extremely skilled hack.

"Callen they tried hack MY network and put a Key Logger Trojan Horse on half the computers in Ops." Eric retorted his voice dripping with venom, while Eric was certainly the single most laid back person Callen had ever met, as evident by his 'work attire', the computer genius also took his job very seriously, and what the FBI had tried to do had been a personal insult to Eric.

"What else were you doing Eric?" Callen asked not entirely sure he wanted to know what a vindictive hacker of Eric's caliber was capable of.

"uh…nothing." The blonde surfer replied weekly.

"Eric." Callen's voice held a warning tone to it as he slightly stretched out the younger man's name.

"I may have reassigned certain members of the L.A. Branches Cybercrime Unit to less glorious locations….like the field office in Anchorage Alaska."

"Eric you can't just…" Callen looked at the ground and rand a hand over his three day stubble and fixed Eric with a hard glare. "Undo the reassignments now." Callen said sternly before walking out of the Ops Center.

As Callen continued his search for Hetty he found Nate sitting in a window sill on the second floor reading a folder that Callen could tell was a NCIS Personnel File. "Nate you seen Hetty?"

"I think she might be in Administration. Something about setting up Deeks new cover identity since he's an Agent now." Nate said as he closed the file and stood up to look at Callen.

"Thanks Nate." Callen said as went to walk off.

"Did you know that Deeks is…was a highly decorated officer before he joined NCIS?" Nate asked off handed but was using this time to give Callen some background on their newest Agent, as was his duty as the team's Operational Psychologist and part time therapist for the field agents when they needed it, not that they every admitted.

"Yeah….A couple days after we rescued Dom and Deeks was shot Hetty gave me a file she had put together on him." Callen said thinking back to the night he had the aforementioned file when he remembered something. "Nate is there anything in your file on who Deeks father is?"

Nate gave Callen a puzzled look before opening the file and looked at the first page. "No, it's a blank spot. His mother a Claire R. Brendall is listed seems her maiden name is Deeks but no, no listing of a father in his file." Nate answered as he closed the file.

"Ok thanks Nate." Callen said as he turned around and made his way to the small corner of the building where the Administration Office was located. As Callen jogged down the stairs he spotted Hetty walk into her office with a file and what looked like a pair of car keys in her right hand.

"Something I can do for you Mr. Callen?" She asked loudly as he walked up behind her while she still had her back to him.

"I wanted to run the new team assignments by you real fast since Deeks is back and is our brand new shiny Probationary Agent." Callen said as he moved to sit in one of the chairs across from Hetty's desk.

"And what did you have in mind for Special Agent Deeks?" Hetty asked Callen as she placed the car keys and file folder on her desk and began to pour herself a cup of tea before turning to face Callen.

"Since Deeks never really got a chance to work with us all that long before he was shot I am going to have him on rotating partners with me Sam and Kensi."

"And what about Mr. Vail?"

"Dom is still a junior agent and doesn't really have all that much to teach Deeks so he'll be running solo in the field from time to time." Callen replied as he looked at the file and noticed the name Marty Jenkins.

"Are you sure that's wise Mr. Callen?" Hetty asked before sitting in her chair, carefully placing her tea cup on a saucer and looked at her senior most agent.

"Dom's come a long way since his abduction so yes I think he's ready. Of course I'm not going to put him in a position where he will be in immediate danger without a partner. When Deeks is working with me or Sam I'll have Dom and Kensi working together."

"And what if you encounter a situation where Mr. Hannah and yourself will need to work together?"

"Then Deeks will work with Kensi and Dom. And before you say anything I don't want another Agent brought in to be Dom's partner while we train Deeks and finish up his probationary period." Callen said as he watched Hetty think over his idea for the team's current situation of having an uneven number of agents. In reality it really wasn't all that different from when Kensi had to stay behind and investigate crime scenes while Sam and Callen traced down various leads, and if need be they could always partner Dom with Nate for various scenarios where there was no immediate danger.

"Very well Mr. Callen I see no flaw in your planning of Mr. Deeks training." Hetty said and she considered all the possibilities, while one could never consider their work to have a routine it was best to plan for the worst, and it seemed that Callen had done just that. "After Mr. Hannah finishes with today's training session with our newest Agent would you please give to these items to Mr. Deeks?" Hetty said as she pushed the file and keys she had been carrying only moments ago forward to Callen.

"New assignment for Deeks?"

"No Mr. Callen. This is a new cover identity for Mr. Deeks as well as a new vehicle for him. Inside he will find the essential details for his new identity, as well as an apartment for him in, as well as various other documents to complete his cover." Hetty calmly explained before she reached into her desk and pulled out a cellphone and placed it on the table. "If you would also give this to Mr. Deeks and explain to him how the Agent in distress system works I would appreciate it Mr. Callen."

"Will do Hetty." Callen said as he stood up and grabbed the three offered items from her desk and turned to leave before Hetty's voice stopped him in his track.

"Also please instruct Mr. Hannah not to be too hard on Agent Deeks. I know he still holds himself responsible for Mr. Vail's kidnapping since he is the one responsible for training new agents in this office." Hetty said before moving from her desk chair to her compute to update Deeks information with his current cover identity as Callen nodded his understanding.

As Callen left Hetty's office he saw Deeks and Sam were walking from the men's locker room and into the bullpen and judging from the their hand and arm motions they two were discussing the counter that Deeks had been learning.

"So you're saying I should start carrying a knife? Doesn't that seem a little excessive?" Deeks asked Sam as he moved to sit at his desk.

"I always carry a knife?" Kensi chimed in as she watched their conversation.

"Yeah but you're a ninja assassin so that just makes sense." Deeks retorted cheekily to her and grinned as she gave him a proudly smile as his description of her.

"I carry one too, started after you guys found me at the old theater." Dom added as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"What about you Callen, you carry a knife as well?" Deeks asked as he looked up at the team leader.

"Two." He simply replied as he placed the cellphone, car keys and file folder in front of Deeks as he asked Callen two questions in rapid succession.

"Really?" Deeks looked at the items that had just been placed in front of him by Callen. "What's all this?"

"Yes really, one in my boot and one on my belt. And those are for your new car, along with your cover identity, documents for said identity and your new upgraded and secure smartphone."

"Wow." Deeks said as he picked up the keys and noticed the world famous BMW Logo on them. "So on my first day I get a new gun, identity, badge, phone and a car." Deeks said before looking at Sam with a big grin on his face. "What else do I win today Johnny?" Deeks asked in a false baritone as if he were some day time TV game show host.

Sam rolled his eyes and looked at Kensi. "See what I tell you?" Kensi of course laughed in response to Sam's question.

"What did Sam tell you?" Dom asked as he sat next to the senior agent who had just spoken.

"When you guys where in the hospital Sam here told me that Deeks would be back driving us up the wall in no time." Kensi replied as she looked smugly at Deeks.

"Aw. You know you love me Fern." Deeks said and gave Kensi a cocky grin using a nickname he knew annoyed her.

"Callen." Kensi said as her tone of voice turned from playful to mildly pissed off in a heartbeat.

"Mmhm." Hey muttered as he began looking for a couple files he was going to give Deeks to read over.

"What exactly is your policy on hazing?" She asked and she kept staring at Deeks with narrowed eyes.

"As long as you don't kill or seriously harm Deeks I really don't care or want to know." He said like the conversation was boring him while he kept looking for the files to e-mail Deeks.

"Sam." Kensi said as she was now glaring at Deeks and was standing in front of his part of the long table they used as a desk. "Can I give Deeks his next hand to hand lesson?"

"Be my guest." He said as he grinned at Deeks who now looked very, very nervous.

"Thank you." Kensi said in an overly sweet tone of voice that promised Deeks a considerable amount of pain before she walked out of the bullpen.

Deeks let out a nervous chuckle as he looked at Sam. "You're not really going to let her do that are you?" When Sam didn't reply Deeks got a little more nervous and looked over at Callen who was still looking at his computer. "Is he?"

"I would say it was nice working with you Deeks." Callen said as he finally found what he had been looking for and opened up a new e-mail.

"But you really haven't been here long enough to do any work." Sam added in on the ribbing of their newest agent as he began to create a new training file on Deeks.

"Ha ha. No seriously you not gonna let her do that. You're just messing with the new guy right?" Deeks asked as he looked at the three other male agents of them team and noticed they were all ignoring him as they focused on their laptops in front of them. "Aw crap." He said as he sank into his chair and began to look at through the folder that Callen had given him.


	8. Chapter 8

The day was winding down at OSP and Deeks was absolutely bored out of his mind as he sat at his desk. He knew that paperwork was an important part of the job, even in the technological age that they were living in where computers were an everyday facet of life both personally and professionally, but he hated paperwork. Especially when the offending items before him were not related to any case what so ever. No this particular brand of evil was all related to policy and procedure within NCIS and focused on the Office of Special Projects and its Agents.

"Do I really have to do these?" Deeks whined as he looked up and was startled that Hetty was standing in front of him. He had been expecting to look over at Sam or just anyone in general, not his new boss. Who oddly enough was his old boss when he thought about it. "Uh…not that I'm complaining or anything Hetty, it just seems kind of redundant since I did these when I started working as your Liaison Officer almost a year ago."

"Unfortunately the only paper we have on file is for a Detective Martin Deeks, who no longer works for us or the LAPD." Hetty replied firmly as she held Deeks stare unflinchingly.

"Oh come on Hetty that was me ten months ago. I signed all these papers."

"Yes you did Mr. Deeks. However NCIS protocol dictates that once an individual leaves this office all documents pertaining to them are sent to the secure section of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis Missouri. And requesting their return is a very long and lengthy process of red tape that cannot be by passed." Hetty said as she continued to stare at Deeks who slumped his shoulders in defeat and returned to filling out more of his paperwork. As Deeks heard a few of his colleges chuckle at his expense he noticed Hetty was still standing in front of his portion of the table slash desk so he looked up at her with a raised eye brow.

"Before you leave for the night Mr. Deeks I would like to speak with you in my office."

"Uh…ok sure no problem." Deeks said as he watched Hetty walk out of the bullpen before he turned to look at everyone else.

"Getting called into Hetty's office on your first day." Sam said in a reproachful voice and made a couple of tsk sounds with his tongue.

"That's gotta be a record." Kensi chimed in at looked at Deeks like he had just been diagnosed with incurable and inoperable brain cancer and had weeks to live.

"No there was that one agent. You guys remember the one who transferred to NCIS from the ATF….what was his name Anders…Sanders?"

"Landers. Last I heard he's been an Agent afloat for the past two years." Sam said as he stood up and started grabbing his things and looked at Callen and Dom who were doing the same thing. "See you tomorrow Deeks."

"Unless Hetty puts you on a Navy ship for the next five years." Callen said as he walked out grinning at Deeks.

Deeks sat there for a little bit and finished some of his paperwork when he stood up noticing that Kensi was still in the bullpen, and it appeared that she was waiting on him.

"So all joking aside how does it feel to be back Special Agent Deeks?" Kensi asked with a smile at her friend.

"I don't think it's really hit me yet. I mean my flight landed this morning and then I had to take a cab. Then I walked two blocks before I got in this morning." Deeks said as he gathered his things and look at the car keys and pocketed them in his jacket and put his cellphone in his bag.

"Why didn't you call me? I would have picked you up Deeks." Kensi said as she grabbed her things but wasn't really in a rush.

"I know. I just wanted to surprise you guys this morning." Deeks said as he leaned back against the decorative wall of the bullpen and looked down at his feet. "Hey after I talk to Hetty do you wanna do something?"

Kensi stopped and turned to look at him. "Are you asking me out?"

"What no…yes…I mean as friends. I haven't talked to you since I left for FLETC and just wanted to hang out."

"As friends?"

"Uh…yeah. That's what I said." Deeks replied wondering why this felt so weird. After Deeks had been released from the Hospital Kensi had stopped by a few times to check up on him and they had become pretty good friends, even if they did tend to annoy the crap out of each other at times.

"Ok….Well you can call me after you talk to Hetty."

"Yeah I'll call you."

"I just said that Deeks."

"Right."

Kensi and Deeks both stood their unmoving and the whole situation was turning from weird to completely awkward before Deeks spoke up. "I'm just gonna…"

"Yeah me too." Kensi replied before they both finally moved in their intended directions, after still staring at each other a couple more awkward seconds.

Deeks walked towards Hetty's office trying to figure out exactly what the hell had just happened between him and Kensi. Letting out a deep sigh and pushing those thoughts from his head he knocked on one of the wood posts that served as a 'doorway' to her office. "You wanted to see me Hetty?"

"Ah Mr. Deeks." Hetty said as she looked up at him while holding her tea pot. "Can I interest you in a cup of Oolong Tea from the Thanon Thong Chai mountain range in the Chiang Mai province of Thailand?" The woman spoke to him as she poured herself a cup and Deeks had to admit that it did smell really good.

"No thank you." He said pausing in between each word as he tried and ultimately fail to get a reading on Hetty's current mood. "I'm more of a Folgers fan personally." He said as he put his hands in his coat pocket and felt the car keys and a question occurred to him. "Hetty I understand the need for a whole new complete cover identity since I'm an agent with the OSP but do I honestly need a new car?" Deeks asked as he pulled the keys to whatever BMW Hetty had given him the keys to.

Deeks knew from his short time with them as the Liaison Officer that Sam, Kensi and Callen all had cars there were well outside of his price range. Especially Callen since he drove a 2010 Aston Martin Rapide. "I mean the insurance alone is going to be a huge dent in my bank account."

"While your financial concerns are certainly justified Mr. Deeks, they are unnecessary. Those keys you are holding are for a 2010 BMW M3." Hetty informed him as she pointed at the keys he was holding up.

Deeks had never been more shocked and scared then he was right now, as evident by the sheer size of his eyes. "Hetty that's a sixty thousand dollar car!" Deeks loudly exclaimed in horror as he looked at the keys in horror.

"Indeed it is Mr. Deeks. The man who previously owned that car had exceedingly fine tastes. Especially when you factor in that he was an arms dealer with a pension for selling to known terrorist organizations." Hetty said calmly even though Deeks had interrupted her. "And before you ask about repairs or maintenance I would like to inform you that this office has a fully equipped and trained support staff. As you will soon find out Mr. Deeks this particular Rabbit Hole runs very deep indeed."

Deeks couldn't help himself and he chuckled slightly at Hetty. "Ok Morpheus. So what else am I going to learn along the way?"

"That our job is far more dangerous then you initially believed. While this office does work the occasional case that could be handled by a traditional NCIS Office we also conduct operations that are for more clandestine. From weapons smuggling to infiltrating a terrorist cell this office and its agents have protected this country from a wide variety of incidents that the vast majority of its population will never know about." Hetty replied as she motioned for Deeks to take a seat and waited for him to do so before continuing on with her version of a 'welcome aboard' speech. "As you are undoubtedly aware after today's training with Mr. Hannah my Agents are highly skilled and continually seek improvement. This self-motivation to better ones self and to constantly be at the top of their game is all I ask from them, and as a NCIS Special Agent it is all I ask from you Mr. Deeks."

Deeks nodded his understanding as to what Hetty was telling him and he chose his next words carefully. "Thank you Hetty. I will do my best not to disappoint you." Deeks said before he placed the car keys he had been holding back in his jacket. "Um…Hetty what about my car?"

"What about it Mr. Deeks?"

"Well what do I do with it since you have assigned me the BMW?"

"If you want to I can facility the sale of it and have the funds deposited in your account, or you can simply sell it yourself." Hetty replied calmly. "Which reminds me, Monty has been a very well behaved house guest, what time would be good to return him to you? I'm sure both of you are eager to see each other after eight months apart."

Deeks looked at his watch before giving her and answer. "Does seven thirty work for you Hetty?"

"Seven thirty it is. Oh and Mr. Deeks. You will find all of your personal belongs at the address of your cover identity Mr. Callen gave you earlier today. And your BMW is in the parking garage in spot 4-B."

"Good night Hetty."

"Good night Mr. Deeks"

**Deeks Apartment**

It had taken Deeks forty-five minutes to drive from OSP to his new apartment. This was in part because he got lost on the way and the rest of the time he had been making a few random turns and constantly adjusting his speed as he had been trained in order to prevent someone from tailing him. As Deeks had been driving he could tell that the BMW Hetty had assigned him had more power then he first though and he made a mental note to look under the hood and to get out on the freeway and give his car a proper test run if he didn't have to work that weekend.

As he walked into her apartment Deeks had to smile as his new apartment was bigger than his old one and closer to the beach since he could easily walk to it in the mornings with his surfboard. While exploring his new home Deeks noticed that Hetty had turned what was originally a spare bedroom turned into an office and he smiled as he spotted his violin case in the corner along with his guitar from when he was in high school. After getting the general layout of his new apartment Deeks retrieved his new phone and quickly pulled up his contact list before calling Kensi. The phone only rang twice before she picked up.

"Hey Deeks. So how did the rabbit hole speech go with Hetty?"

"Um….Ok….How did you know?" Deeks as he almost looked at the phone in shock and could practically hear Kensi rolling her eyes.

"Please it's the same speech she gave Dom and I'm betting the same one she gives every new agent who starts working for her." Kensi replied with a grin as she flopped down on her couch and put her feet up on the coffee table in front of her. "So burgers and beer tonight. Anywhere in particular you wanna go?"

"How about Prohibition out in Encino?"

"Um….Deeks they are closed on Mondays."

"Oh right…."

"How about your place then? " Kensi asked and mental kicked herself for sounding like a nervous little girl. _'What the hell was that Kensi?'_

"Um…" Deeks trailed off as he walked to his refrigerator and opened it finding it completely empty. "So Kensi no can do. Hetty set me up in a new apartment for my cover Identity and the fridge is empty…What about your place at eight? I'll bring the burgers if you have the beer." He said with a smile and wondered why the hell he was grinning like an idiot.

"Yeah we can…wait why eight?"

"Oh Hetty is dropping Monty off and I'm not sure how long it will take me to get to your place."

"Oh ok. Hey if you want you can bring Monty along too. I've been around him a couple times at the office and we get along pretty good."

"Sounds good see you then Fern." Deeks said with a smile before hanging up as she was getting ready to go off on him. Looking at the clock on his phone Deeks noticed he had about an hour before Hetty would arrive with Monty so he walked into his study and slowly opened the violin case and gently lifted it from the red velvet lining and placed it between his left cheek and shoulder.

As Deeks slowly drew the bow across the strings he noticed that it was in tune, most likely the work of Hetty. Gently holding the violin in position Deeks played a few various and random notes slowly getting faster and faster until he felt he had appropriately loosened up his finger before he began to play and closed his eyes as he soon lost himself in the music.

**(A/N: Just because in one episode Deeks used Metal bands for a license plate he was reading to Eric I chose this song** watch?v=BJy-v7NF_Mc)

Deeks had been so engrossed in his music that he never noticed that Hetty had let herself and Monty into his apartment was currently standing in the doorway as she watched him with great interest. After Deeks finished playing Monty walked over to his owner and brushed against his legs gaining Deeks attention. "Hey Buddy. Did you miss me? I know I missed you." He said as he reached down to scratch the dog's head.

"Very impressive Mr. Deeks, although I don't recognize the composition so I must ask is that an original piece?" Hetty asked as she watched her newest agent place his violin and bow back in their case. Deeks chuckled as he closed the lid and turned around to look at her.

"No that would be The Unforgiven by Metallica."

"I see. The musical talents of James Hetfield have always impressed me although I must say that is the most soulful rendition of a Metallica song I have ever heard." Hetty said as she nodded her head at Deeks and turned around walking out of the room leaving an open mouthed and absolutely stunned Deeks in her wake. It wasn't until the door closed that Deeks was able to regain his senses.

"WAIT YOU LISTEN TO METALLICA?!" He shouted after her and the looked down at Monty. "Well since you're here wanna get some burgers and go see Kensi?" Deeks asked the dog who practically sprinted out of the room and was sitting at the door leading out of Deeks apartment.

**Kensi's Apartment**

Kensi was currently sitting on her couch watching re-runs of America's Next Top Model and was idly wiping off her Sig-Saur as she waited for Deeks to show up. She was looking forward to spending some time with him since they had formed a pretty good friendship after he had gotten shot and she hadn't seen him for the past two months. She was still slightly mad at him for telling her and everyone else that he was going under for the LAPD when in fact he had been at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia for those two months learning what he needed to become a NCIS Agent before reporting to the Office of Special Projects.

A knock at the door pulled Kensi from the couch and she slipped a magazine into the grip of the pistol and pressed the slide release sending in to its closed position while chambering a round at the same time. "Who is it?" She asked as she made her way to the door.

"Run run as fast as you can you'll never catch me." Deeks voice rang out loudly in a sing song tone and she pulled the door open to give him an annoyed look. "I'm the Gingerbread Man." He finished with a grin as he help up a bag of burgers from The Golden State Café. "Hey partner." He said and smiled at Kensi.

"Come on in Monty." Kensi said as she reached down and undid the leash from his collar and the dog walked in and began to explore the apartment.

"What about me?" Deeks mock whined still holding the bag in his hands.

"What about you?"

"Can I come in too?"

"I don't know. Are you house broken?"

Deeks grinned at Kensi as she suddenly realized she had left herself wide open to what was sure to be one of Deeks childish and slightly inappropriate sexual innuendo jokes. "Does that mean you wanna play house with me Kensi? I mean we already have Monty so we could work on having…."

"If you finish that sentence I will break your jaw." Kensi threatened him with a hard glare but stepped aside to let him into her apartment and closed the door behind him. "So where does Hetty have you living now?"

"Right between LA and Northeast Los Angeles." He said as he looked around and noticed that her apartment was a little cleaner then it was the last time he had visited her. "Hey you do a little cleaning while I was away?" He asked off handedly not sure if he was remembering the clutter that passed for her apartment correctly or not.

"As a matter of fact I did last week." She said looking very proud of herself.

"Uh huh, let me guess you couldn't find the remote." He said teasing her as he turned around to face her, and received a punch to the shoulder for his smart ass remark. "AH! Monty she attacked me get her boy!" He said as the dog wondered back into the living room and looked up at Deeks before walking over to Kensi and sitting down beside her. "Traitor." He half scowled at the dog.

**A/N: This will probably be the last comedy styled chapter I write for a while since I have a 'case' I am working on to have the Team work on. For those of you who have asked what Dom's place will be with the team since he is still alive I will TRY to work on that. Its just that Dominic's character is hard for me to write for some reason (probably because he was only in a handful of episodes before they killed him off) but I will spend some time this weekend watching episodes that Dom is in and try to get his character down as much as I can.**

**Again thanks for all the reviews and follows.**


	9. Misdirection – Part 1

**A/N: First off I want to say that for right now this story is taking place between the end of Season 1 and before Season 2 starts. After watching those two episodes I'm assuming that quite some has passed since Deeks was originally on a long term undercover assignment and from the details of the case they talk about during the Season 2 premier it would take a LONG time to get a human trafficking network that size set up.**

**Secondly I apologize for the url not fully moving from WinWord I didn't double check it. I****f you want to see what I had Deeks playing in the previous chapter you can search for Apocalyptica The Unforgiven on youtube .**

**This chapter and some of the following ones are going to center around this 'case' that I made up in my head and some help from episodes of NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles. I hope you enjoy it.**

**Glendale, California**

**Franciscan Metro Center**

**7:15 A.M.**

It was a typically slow Tuesday morning at the Costco located in Glendale as a white well-built man with a military styled haircut was walking out of the large grocery store and paused just outside the doors as he nervously looked around. As this man scanned the area he spotted a late 90's grey Honda civic was park in a rather odd position. For being so early during the week the parking lot was practically empty, yet the car in question was parked several rows away from the entrance to the store. While he continued looking at the car this increasingly nervous unknown male noticed that there were fumes coming from the exhaust and that the vehicles license plates were missing.

Realizing that he was being followed the man quickly reach into his pants pocket and turned around to walk into the store. Or rather that had been his intention when he bumped into another man and felt the sharp piece of steel slip in-between his ribs and pierce his heart before slumping to the ground, lifeless.

As their target fell to the ground his killer calmly stepped forward as the Honda that had drawn their victim's attention drove to the curb and waited for the attacker to climb in before driving off and disappearing into the rush hour traffic on I-5.

**NCIS OSP Bullpen**

**8:52 A.M.**

"So you're telling me that you think you could take him in a one on one fight?" Callen asked as he looked at his partner with absolute disbelieve in his eyes.

"Without a doubt." Sam replied smugly and grinned at Callen.

"Really?"

"Yes really." Sam shot back getting a little agitated at his friend's lack of faith in him. It was that moment that Deeks walked into the bullpen sipping on cup of coffee and Sam nodded at him. "Sup Deeks." Sam said to Deeks in a friendly greeting.

"Hey…..what are you guys talking about?" Deeks asked as he put his bag on his desk and leaned against it and nodded at Kensi as she walked in from the woman's locker room.

"Hey guys what's up?" She said as she walked to the back of her part of the table she shared with Callen and Deeks before sitting in her chair and opening the top of her laptop.

"Sam here things he could take Chuck Norris." Callen said as he gave the two younger agents a slight grin.

"Well the guy is like 60 years old. But I guess if beating up an old man makes you feel better about yourself who am I to judge." Deeks replied as he looked at Sam.

"No I said I think I could take Chuck Norris in a one on one fight in his prime." Sam replied getting annoyed that Callen was choosing to leave out parts of the conversation.

"Wait you want to fight him when he was in his prime?" Kensi said as she looked at Sam. "What are you suicidal?"

"That's what I said." Callen jumped into the conversation with an animated gesture of his hands.

"Oh don't tell me you buy into the whole Chuck Norris thing too Kensi." Sam said in disbelieve at the female agent across from him.

"You don't see me saying his name all the time do you?" She asked as she looked down at her computer as it booted up.

"You know that is a very good point…In fact I don't think anyone else should say that name for the rest of the day. Really not in the mood to get round housed in the face today and end up dead." Deeks said as he quickly looked around the OSP building before moving to his chair.

"Chuck Norris, Chuck Norris, Chuck Norris." Sam said loudly as he looked at the three agents across from him. In turn the three of them picked their collective heads up at the same time and looked at him with shock and horror on their faces. Suddenly a loud and shrill whistle came from the steps that would lead up to Ops as Eric stood there with his tablet in his hands.

"You do know this is your fault." Callen said to Sam as he led the procession of agent's up the stair to the Operations Center. "What's up Eric?" The team leader said as everyone filed into the now secured room, while the team walked into Ops they spotted Dom typing away furiously at a computer next to Eric.

"Say hello to Marine Sergeant Michel Jacobs, a Fire Team Leader with MARSOC stationed out of Camp Pendleton" Eric said as he pressed a button on his computer that brought up LAPD Crime Scene Photos. "He was murdered this morning in front of a Costco in Glendale around 7 am this morning."

"MARSOC?" Deeks asked since he had never heard the term before but he figured any acronym involving the Marines was important to know, especially since he was a NCIS Agent now.

"Marine Special Operations Command, they carrying counter terrorist missions and carryout various other high priority missions for the Marines." Sam said as he looked at Deeks. "Glendale is a long way from Camp Pendleton…Was Sergeant Jacobs on leave Eric?"

"As a matter of fact he was." Eric paused as he brought up a few other images on the big screen before them. "Jacobs is on emergency leave because his sister, Melissa, was in a car accident three days ago. She is currently in the ICU at OSU Medical Center in Columbus Ohio."

"Ok so maybe he had flight later today from LAX to Ohio." Kensi said trying to work out some of the angels of this case in her head.

"I haven't been able to find any flight information for Sergeant Jacobs anywhere and he landed at Los Angeles Air Force Base yesterday and was supposed to hop a C-5 to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton Ohio but he never got on it."

"So how does a Marine who is supposed to be in Ohio wind up dead outside a shopping store in Glendale?" Callen asked himself out as he turned to look at his team.

"An excellent question Mr. Callen, I just got off the phone SECNAV. It appears that Sergeant Jacobs Company has information about where Ilyas Kashmiri will be in twelve hours." Hetty said as she walked into the Operations Center and moved to stand in front of her gathered agents

"Kashmiri is Al-Qaeda's primary strategist and military leader. That's a high value target." Sam said as he knew where this was heading.

"Indeed it is Mr. Hannah, which is why SECNAV wants to know if the Marine's mission has been compromised." Hetty said as she looked at her gathered agents. "Mr. Callen the proverbial clock is ticking on this one."

"Ok Sam and Deeks check out the crime scene." Callen instructed his agents who nodded at him.

"Come on Deeks." Sam said as he walked past Deeks and out of Ops. Deeks pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows at Kensi before following Sam out of Ops.

"Eric did Jacobs live on or off base?" Callen inquired as he looked at the spectacled man.

"Off base, sending his address to your Smartphone now." Eric said as he pressed a couple buttons on the tablet that almost seemed to be part of the hacker's hand.

"No send it to Kensi and Dom. I'm going to call Jacob's family and talk to them before heading to the crime scene." Callen said as he watched Dom get up and walk excitedly from the room in front of Kensi. "Kens I need to talk to you a second."

"Ok sure." She said as she stopped mid stride and turned to face Callen. "What's up?"

"Keep an eye on Dom would you? I don't want this thing with Deeks coming back to mess with him. He's been doing a lot better but what he went through is going to stay with him, probably for the rest of his life."

"Will do." Kensi said softly as she hadn't really thought about what this would do to Dom. "So what you said yesterday?"

"Was true and for Dom's benefit as well." Callen replied with a slight tilt of his head. Kensi nodded and quickly walked out of the room. After waiting a few seconds for Kensi to collect Dom and her things from the bullpen Callen headed towards the doors and pointed behind him at Eric. "E-mail me the Next of Kin information Eric." Callen instructed the younger man as he walked out the doors.

**Glendale, CA**

**9:23 A.M.**

"You know I really should have told Callen that sending me with just one other agent to a crime was a bad idea." Deeks said from the passenger seat of Sam's black Challenger SRT.

"And why is that Deeks?" Sam asked as he put the car into park and turned the ignition off while looking at the temporary partner for the day.

"Sam LAPD hates anyone who is a fed."

"Yeah but that's why you're here to smooth things over."

"You seem to forget that I'm the cop who quit the LAPD to become a federal agent, put that with the fact that most of the LAPD hated me when I was just an undercover cop this is not going to be a walk in the park." Deeks said as both men were still sitting in the car.

"Deeks did you stop to think that Callen thought about that before he sent us up here?" Sam said as he looked over at Deeks. "You gotta trust us man. This isn't the LAPD where you're getting sent undercover with just a phony license." Sam said as he sighed heavily and rubbed his jawline before looking back at Deeks. "Deeks I know your used to working alone out there but I trust you to have my back. You just have to trust me to have yours." Sam used a tone of voice that was more 'big brother' then 'mentor to student'. "Come on lets go piss off the LAPD." Sam added with a smile as he opened his car door and climbed out.

As the two NCIS Agents walked towards the tapped off area Deeks was unable to noticed the looks of contempt thrown his way by a lot of the uniformed officers in the area and couldn't help but wonder how bad the reaction his leaving LAPD to join NCIS was going to be. So far no one had stopped them to check their I.D. yet but Deeks also knew that was because he had dealt with the majority of the cops present at least once in the past. Finally reaching the two detectives who seemed to be in charge Deeks raised his left hand in a friendly wave to them. "Hey guys. Do you mind if NCIS takes over since your murder victim is a Marine?"

"Get bent Deeks this is our case." The taller of the two LAPD Homicide Detectives spat at the scruffy looking former LAPD Detective who let out a few nervous chuckles.

"Ok let's try that again. I'm NCIS Special Agent Deeks." Deeks paused as he pulled out his day old NCIS badge and credentials and flashed them and pointed at Sam who was next to him doing the same thing. "This is my partner Special Agent Hannah."

"So you joined the dark side huh Deeks? Still doesn't matter because this is our case and you can go fuck yourself." The same Detective said as he reached out with his left hand to shove Deeks shoulder but soon found himself in a modified standing arm bar before he even registered the fact that the large bald black man next to Deeks had even moved.

"I know you weren't just about to assault a federal agent. Especially when that fed." Sam paused and put a little more pressure on the man's shoulder causing him to grunt in pain. "Is my partner."

When Sam had grabbed one of the Detectives Deeks instantly moved in tandem with him to stand between the other LAPD Officer and Sam as he training from FLETC kicked in. "I wouldn't do that if I were you Jackson." Deeks said warningly before Detective Jackson stepped back and put his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"Whoa. Ok let's all just calm down." Jackson said trying to defuse the situation. Personally Jackson never had a problem with Deeks and couldn't understand why so many of the other cops did, all Jackson knew is that it was an incident involving Deeks last partner and the man who had run the Undercover Division before Lt. Bates took over.

Sam let go of the Detective he was holding and shoved him over beside Detective Jackson. "Your victim is an Active Duty Marine which makes this our case." He said challengingly as he looked between the two Detectives.

"Look, judging from the receipt we found on him your Vic was stabbed around 7:15. That early in the morning there were not witness. The manger inside found your Marine and called us and someone called you guys." Jackson said as he looked at Deeks and nodded his head slightly before walking away with his partner.

"Well I guess you weren't joking huh Sam." Deeks said as he looked at his partner for this case.

"Your one of us Deeks and we look out for our own."

"No I was referring to you talking about pissing off the LAPD." Deeks said with a crooked grin and Sam just smiled and rolled his eyes. "So do you want the body or the Manager?"

"I'll be nice and let you pick Deeks." Sam replied since he knew that there really wasn't much he could teach Deeks when it came to initial crime scene investigation. What moves they made next might be a different story but for now Sam knew that Deeks could handle this.

"I'll flip you for it." Deeks said as he pulled out a quarter and showed it to Sam.

"Heads." Sam quickly called out as Deeks flipped the quarter in the air before catching it in his palm and slapping it onto the top of his opposite hand. "Looks like I win Deeks." Sam said before walking past the body of Sergeant Jacobs and into the store.

**I-5 near San Clemente, CA**

**9:35 A.M.**

"So if Jacobs is in LA instead of Ohio what was the reason he was killed for?" Dominic Vail asked Kensi as he looked over the information Eric had sent to his smart phone as well as e-mailed to his NCIS account on his laptop.

"More importantly why was he even still in Los Angeles?" Kensi asked as she changed lanes to get past a Semi. "I mean why not be with your family when your sister is in the hospital? Especially when she is in the ICU."

"This might have something to do with it." Dom added as he scrolled to a new page of the e-mail Eric sent him. "Jacobs's family is pretty well off. His father is a pretty successful lawyer and is a partner with a successful law firm in Chicago and his mother is the Head of Neurosurgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago."

"If the family is from Chicago what is the sister doing in Ohio?" Kensi asked as she quickly looked at Dom before back on the road in front of her.

"It looks like she is a Graduate Student at Ohio State in chemical engineering." Dam said as he looked at his laptop screen. "So both of his parents are highly successful and his sister is studying to be a chemical engineer….Maybe joining the Marines caused fallout with his family."

"Yeah but wouldn't he still keep in touch with his sister?" Kensi asked as she kept driving and saw a sign that told her they were 30 miles from Oceanside.

"Ok this is weird." Dom said as he looked at Jacob's Service Record Book. "His SRB says he was in supply before he joined MARSOC."

"That's not all that weird. Marines some times change MOS's when they re-enlist." Kensi replied off handed to her partner.

"Yeah but the thing is Jacob's re-enlisted two years ago and was in supply until a month before he deployed with MARSOC. And there is no record of him attending the School of Infantry, says here he attended Marine Combat Training right after he graduated from Parris Island in 2002." Dom said as he looked up at Kensi before he grabbed his cellphone and called Ops.

"Eric its Dom, hey I need you to do more digging into Jacobs SRB. What's in there makes no sense…..Are you sure?" Dom asked Eric as he turned to look at Kensi with a concerned look on his face. "Ok thanks Eric." The young agent said as he hung up his phone and put it in his coat pocket. "Eric said Callen just got off the phone with Jacobs family."

"I'm sure it must be hard for them. Losing your son a couple days after your daughter is almost killed in a car crash." Kensi said as she felt bad for the family.

"That's just it Kensi. Melisa Jacob's is not in the Hospital. She was never in a car accident." Dom said as he looked at his partner completely confused. The more they found out about this murder investigation and its victim the less the case made sense.

**Glendale, CA**

**10:05 A.M.**

NCIS Special Agent G. Callen pulled to a stop a handful of yards from the crime scene that he had sent Deeks and Sam to check out and he quickly climbed out of his car and made a beeline to the taped off area flashing his badge at a uniformed LAPD officer before ducking under the tape. As Callen walked towards the front of the store he spotted Deeks talking to someone from the LA County Coroner's Office and Sam was walking out of the front of the building.

"What have you got Deeks?" Callen asked as he spotted a small plastic bag in Deeks hands.

"Found a hair on our dead Marine. Black about four inches long, could be nothing but I'm going to have forensics take a look at it and see if they can get a match." The blonde Special Agent said as he placed the plastic bag in his jeans pocket and began to take off his black latex gloves. "What did the manger say Sam?" Deeks asked at he looked at the former Navy SEAL.

"Not much. Didn't see or hear anything but he said that Jacobs was acting nervous. Manager said he thought Jacobs might have been there to steal something so he kept an eye on him but Jacobs bought a coffee and a donut." Sam said as he stood there with Callen and Deeks forming a small triangle between then three of them as he looked around the area. As he did so he spotted a news van pulling into the parking lot. "Heads up guys." Sam said as he nodded towards the van before he and Callen started to walk away. "Come on Deeks."

After they were well away from the taped off area and standing next to Callen's Aston Martin and Sam's Dodge Challenger Deeks spoke up. "Ok so why are we hiding out over here?"

"Same reason Hetty gave you that cover identity last night and everything that went with it." Callen calmly informed him.

"We're part of a highly classified federal agency. The last thing any of us need are for our faces to get plastered all over the six o'clock evening news." Sam said firmly. "You're playing a whole new ball game now Deeks." The probationary Agent nodded his understanding at the two senior agents.

"Sam what about surveillance footage from the store?" Callen asked Sam, who was technically his partner even though he was working with Deeks for the moment.

"Twelve Cameras in the store and two outside, all Closed Circuit but the manager agreed to give me a copy of this morning's footage." The African American agent said as he held up a disc. As he did so he noticed the look on Callen's face and having been partners with him for a while he could tell that something was bothering the smaller man. "What's up G?"

"I called Jacobs family before I came out here. Turns out that Melissa's not in the hospital at all. She's in her dorm room studying for her finals this week." Callen as he looked from Sam to Deeks.

"Something is definitely going on here." Sam said as he looked at Callen.

"So what's our next move?" Deeks asked the man responsible for his training as well as his team leader.

"You two head back to Ops and get the evidence turned in. I'll arrange for LAPD to transport the Jacob's vehicle to their evidence garage." Callen said as he walked past Deeks and Sam who nodded at him and moved to get into Sam's Challenger.

"Well ones thing's for certain." Deeks said as he slid into the black leather bucket styled seat before grabbing his seat belt.

"What's that?" Sam asked him as he did the same thing before placing his car key in the ignition.

"Jacobs knew something that got him killed. I didn't find any defensive wounds on him at all and from the look of his stab wound whoever killed him knew what they were doing. Two inch knife right to the heart, he never stood a chance." Deeks said as he looked over at Sam.

"Jacobs was a member of a highly trained unit. No way he went down without a fight." Sam said as he put the car into first gear and pulled away from the crime scene.

"Maybe he knew his killer?" Deeks asked as he went over what they knew so far.

"Ok that explains the lack of defensive wounds." Sam said as he looked in his side and rearview mirrors out of habit to check for a tail. "Still doesn't explain why he was still in LA instead of Ohio. Or why he thought his sister was in the ICU."

"Maybe he called his family when he landed yesterday to tell them he was on his way home?" Deeks asked as he and Sam tried to put some part of the puzzle about Sergeant Jacobs's death together.

"Nah G would have mentioned that."

"Ok so what does all of this mean?" Deeks asked as he was running out of ideas, and fast. This was far more in depth than any murder investigation he had encountered during his time with the LAPD.

"I'm not sure but this is bigger than a Marine missing his flight and ending up dead the next morning." Sam said as he continued toward the OSP.


	10. Misdirection - Part 2

**A/N: Ok I have to say that I have never been a big fan of guest reviews simply because I can't reply to the review. I'm bringing this up because someone left a guest review that said**

:LOL Metallica.

Hetty is definitely The Master of Puppets!

**Whoever wrote this is a flipping comedy god! Seriously I was laughing my ass off for a good five minutes! For those of you who have enjoyed the suspense/crime part of this story line you're not going to be disappointed. So without much more ado here we go.**

**NCIS Office of Special Projects**

**10:40 A.M.**

Sam and Deeks walked into the building that had once been part of the Los Angeles Water Department carrying the evidence they had collected from the crime they had left a short while ago, Sam a compact disc containing the security footage from the Costco and Deeks the small plastic bag that contained a single black hair he had found of the body of the murdered dirty blonde Marine.

As the two men split of to take the only clues that the team possessed at this time to the appropriate department within OSP Seem found himself confronted with a visibly aggravated Henrietta Lange at the top of the stairs that would lead him to Ops. It was a different and unsettling experience for him to suddenly find himself at eye level ,even if they were a few feet apart, with his Operations Manager as she leveled her gaze at him and only him.

"Something I can do for you Hetty?"

"While Mr. Deeks and yourself were at our current crime scene I received a most unpleasant phone call from the LAPD's Chief of Detectives Mr. Hannah" Hetty said in a firm and disapproving tone of voice. "What the bloody hell were you thinking attacking a Police Officer?"

"I didn't attack anyone Hetty." Sam said calmly as he held her gaze for a few long seconds before he, like so very many people before him, broke. "Ok fine I may have put one of the Detectives in an arm bar."

"Why on earth would you do such a rash thing? You of all people should know how strained relations are with the LAPD. Your actions could have permanently damaged what is already a fragile relationship at best." Hetty said as she continued to firmly chastise the man before her.

"They guy was about to shove Deeks. I stood up for my partner and had his back what do you want me to say?"

"Do you not think that Mr. Deeks can handle himself Mr. Hannah?"

"We both know Deeks can handle himself." Sam said as his mind drifted back to the Zuna case where the OSP team had first encountered Deeks, or rather his alias Jason Wyler, and the fight that he had with Deeks in the cage and then the short scuffle in the alley behind the gym.

"Mr. Hannah while I applaud and even understand the feeling of a debt you owe to Mr. Deeks I suggest you let him handle any such future confrontations with the LAPD himself. You have shown Mr. Deeks that you will have his back, now it's time to show him that you believe he can handle such problematic encounters on his own." As she finished she stepped to the side, allowing Sam to finish on his trek to Eric with the video footage that will hopefully shed some light on Michael Jacobs's murder.

**Oceanside, CA**

**11:05 A.M.**

Kensi put her silver Cadillac SRX in park as she looked over at Dom who was so focus on his laptop and the information about Michael Jacobs he hadn't even registered that they had arrived at their destination, or rather that is how it would appear to someone without Kensi's training. Dom was still staring at the same page he had pulled up over ten minutes ago, and his eyes held a far off look. Basically the lights were on but no one was home at the moment. "Dom?" Kensi called softly knowing that look from her time trying to help her ex-fiancée when he would be suffering a flashback from his time in Iraq. When Kensi received no response she slowly undid her seatbelt making sure that there were no big exacerbated movements on her part and she called his name louder. "Dom!"

The younger agent in question jerked in response to her voice and looked up from his computer and looked around before his eyes came to Kensi's face. "What?"

Kensi took a few seconds to study Dominic's face, as she did so didn't see any random or rapid eye movement that suggested Dom was looking for an invisible threat, and his eyes weren't dilated in any manner. "Hey are you ok?"

"Yeah….I'm good." He said and his response sounded hollow in his own ears so he knew that Kensi could tell his response was complete bullshit, especially when she gave him a 'oh really' look with a raised eyebrow. "It's just…Deeks seems like a good guy and he helped you guys rescue me…..I just…."

"You worried that he is going to replace you?" Kensi said voicing the concerns he had voiced yesterday morning.

"Kensi the guy was with LAPD for eight years and has been an undercover cop for six of those." Dom said in a defeated tone at looked at his laptop as he powered it down and closed it. "Me….I'm the rookie who managed to get himself abducted after being an agent for all of three months." Dom's voice turned angry as he sat there and looked back to Kensi as if daring her to argue with him about what he had just said.

"No one thinks that Dom." Kensi tried to say reassuringly to the younger agent. When he had first returned to active duty Dom had been a little, and understandably, rattled but after a while he had returned to normal and things seemed to be looking up. But ever since Deeks revelation that he was the team's newest agent Dom seemed to be reverting to how he was after his return.

"Dom…I hate to ask this but when was the last time you talked to Nate?" Kensi's voice was soft and comforting.

"It's been a while." He replied softly as if he was ashamed of what had happened to him. When in reality he was feeling resentment towards the man that had nearly died to help rescue him.

"When we get back maybe you should talk to him. Dom you're my partner and friend ok? I do care about what happens to you."

"What about Deeks isn't he your partner too?"

"Deeks is a probationary agent so he really doesn't have a partner right now Dom." Kensi said as she smiled at him. "Come on lets go see what we can find in Jacobs's apartment." She said as before exiting her SUV and waiting for Dom to do the same before she continued on towards the apartment number that Eric had given them.

As the two NCIS Agents walked to the door they head someone shuffling around before they heard a loud thumb followed by a male voice drift through the door. "God damn it! Ok where the hell did you put it Mike?" Kensi looked at Dom and nodded before they both drew their pistols from behind their backs and she checked the door finding it unlocked. Being the senior Agent Kensi held up her first three fingers and silently counted down to one before she pushed the door open. "FEDERAL AGENTS!"

In the middle of the room a man jumped at the sudden intrusion and he spun around two face the two NCIS Agents. As this unknown man turned a mask of pure pain played out over his face and the cried out in pain before he dropped the floor in a heap.

"Dom check him." Kensi instructed quickly unsure if he was trying to get them to drop their guard or if he really was injured, while her partner moved forward Kensi kept her pistol raised and scanned the immediate area for any additional threats.

"Look, take what you want." The man yelled as he still lay on the floor and his hand drifted toward a very large grey knee brace.

"Don't move!" Dom instructed the man as he pointed his Sig-Saur at him and rolled the man over onto his stomach and started to pat him down. When Dom patted the brace for weapons the man practically howled in pain.

"GET OFF ME!"

"He's clean." Dom said as he looked at Kensi and took a step back from the man. "You alone?"

"Yes. Now help me up damn it!" The man said as he rolled onto his back and cradled his knee protectively.

"Who are you?" Kensi said as she lowered her pistol but didn't holster it behind her back.

"You first since you broke into my apartment."

"NCIS Agents Blye and Vail." Kensi replied as she looked around the main room of the apartment and spotted a pair of crutches. "Who are you?" She asked as she moved closer to him.

"Corporal Jackson, USMC." The man hissed angrily at them. "You gonna help me up or just stand there looking at me?"

Kensi and Dom both holstered their weapons and reached down and easily lifted the man up and helped guide him to the couch. "You ok?" Dom asked after they had seated Jackson on the couch only to receive what was obviously 'are you that retarded' look.

"Corporal what were you looking for when we entered the apartment?" Kensi asked him trying to deflect the man's attention from Dom and sooth his anger.

"My pain meds. A bottle of Oxycodone for me knee." He said the pain still evident in his voice but not as much.

"What happened to your knee?" Kensi asked as she looked around the room and spotted the pill bottle in question and gave the label a quick look to confirm the man's story.

"I tore my ACL two weeks ago during a training exercise, Mountain Warfare up in Bridgeport. I had surgery on it last week" Jackson said as he watched Kensi grab his pill bottle. "Can I have my meds now?" He asked her angrily as he held out his hand in a demanding manner.

"Right sorry about that." Kensi said as she put the bottle on Jackson's hand. "So why are you in Michael Jacobs's apartment?"

Jackson popped two pills into his mouth and snapped his head back and swallowed the pills without any water. "Because I live here." Jackson pointed a door directly behind Dom. "Check the closet you'll find my uniforms hanging in there."

"How do you know Sergeant Jacobs?" Kensi asked as she looked around the apartment. It was not what you would expect a couple single guys to have, even if they were two Marine NCO's. It was cleaned but looked like I was barely lived in.

"Mike and I used to be in the same unit a couple years ago. I was a lance coolie in the same unit as him. We hit it off pretty fast and when I picked up Corporal we decided to get an apartment off base together. Get away from all the stupidity that comes with living in the barracks." Jackson said as he looked at Kensi with a questioning look on his face. "What's this all about?"

"When was the last time you saw Sergeant Jacobs?" Kensi deflected his question as she looked at Dom who walked out of the room Jackson said was his and the younger agent nodded that Jackson story checked out, at least so far.

"Right before he deployed four months ago. We went out and had a few beers….What's going on?" Jackson practically demanded as he looked between the two NCIS Agents.

"Sergeant Jacobs was found murdered this morning in Los Angeles." Dominic informed him flatly.

"What….No Mike's in Afghanistan." Jackson said as he looked at Kensi in disbelieve. "This is some kinda sick joke right?"

"I'm sorry." She said softly and watched with Jackson leaned back into the chair and ran his hand over his shaved head and then down his face and he looked at the floor, but his gaze was unfocused and it was more like he thinking of a memory from a long time ago.

"What happened?" He asked softly and he didn't even look up at Kensi or Dom.

"It's still too early to know for sure but he was stabbed outside a Costco early this morning." Dom said as he looked down at the shocked Marine before him.

"Do you know why Mike was in LA and not over in Afghanistan?" He asked mutely as he was sitting there trying to process that his friend had just been murdered

"We were hoping you could tell us that." Kensi said as she moved to sit on the other end of the couch and looked at Jackson sadly.

"No like I said I haven't seen him since he deployed…Oh god what about his family? Does Melisa know yet?" Jackson asked as he looked up at them.

"They were notified this morning…Do you know Jacobs's family?"

"Not really. I mean I've met Mel a few times when she would fly out here to visit him. Good kid, really smart but kinda socially awkward you know? Like she was one of those people who over think everything." Jackson as he leaned forward to put his elbows on his thighs before putting his hands together and resting the bottom of his nose on top of them.

"Ok well if you think of anything please give me a call." Kensi said before she pulled out a card with the number for the office on it and set it on the coffee table in front of him and stood up to leave the apartment.

"Sorry about your friend." Dom said with a nod of his head and walked out of the apartment closing the door behind him.

As Kensi walked to her SUV she pulled out her cellphone and pressed a couple of buttons. "Eric I need you to find a Corporeal Jackson USMC. He's Jacobs's roommate. Jackson claims he served with Jacobs a few years ago in the same unit…Ok thanks." Kensi hung up and put her phone in her back pocket and stood next to her car and looked over at Dom. "What did you find inside Jackson's room?"

"Closet looked like what you would typically expect from a Marine, neat and orderly. Bed was a mess but that matches up with the guy's story of having surgery." Dom said as he looked at the apartment then back to Kensi. "We gonna sit on this place for a while?"

"No lets head back and compare notes with Sam and Deeks…see if they have anything yet." Kensi said as she pulled open the car door and climbed, before Dom followed her lead her looked around the parking lot. He didn't know if it was paranoia because of his own self-doubts that were starting to resurface or if they were being watched, after a scan of the surrounding area Dom shrugged off the feeling and climbed into the car.

"Something wrong?" Kensi said as she watched Dom before he climbed into her car.

"Maybe…maybe not. Circle the block before we head back." He said letting her know that he thought something was off.

"Checking to see if Jackson bolts?" she asked before putting the car in gear and pulling out of the parking lot.

"No…Did you feel like someone was watching us out there?" He asked as he looked at her, or rather pretended to and was looking out the corner of his eye to see if anyone pulled out after them. He noticed Kensi shake her head no and when he didn't see anyone pulling out after them he turned back to face forward but was still being highly observant of their surroundings, just in case.

**Los Angeles, CA**

**LAPD Evidence Garage**

**11:15 A.M.**

Callen stepped back from the black 1500 Dodge Ram that used to belong the Sergeant Michael Jacobs and he pulled off his black latex gloves and tossed them into a nearby trash can. So far all he had found was a couple cans of Copenhagen long cut and a half empty bottle of Pepsi that Callen had refused to open. He had spent enough time around Marines in the field to put the two items together. All in all the senior most agent of the OSP had come up with nothing. Which wasn't too surprising, Marines as a whole are typical pretty squared away.

Callen walked out of the garage and pulled out his cellphone. "Sam, Jacobs's truck was a dead end, only had a couple cans of dip and a bottle of pop in it. I'm on my way back now." Callen hung up and pocketed his phone as he opened his car door and pulled out of the parking lot of the LAPD Headquarters.

As Callen drove off a grey Honda Civic with no license plates pulled into the parking lot that he had just left moments before, all of which went unnoticed by the special agent as he turned left on to South Spring Street heading back to the Office of Special Projects.


	11. Misdirection - Part 3

**A/N: Since so many of you have expressed concern about what Dom's fate will be in this story since Deeks is and Agent now I've put a poll on my profile pertaining to this story that will give you a chance to have some input on this story line and the direction it will go. BUT think carefully because once you all vote and I close the poll there is no going back.**

**Once again those of you who have reviewed and follow this story thank you SO much! Really you guys are what keep me updating this at pretty much a daily basis.**

**NCIS OSP Bullpen**

**12:15 P.M.**

"So forensic ran the hair I found and all they can tell right now is that it belongs to a male." Deeks said as he walked into the bullpen and over to his desk as he looked at Sam and Callen. "Any luck with Jacobs's truck or the store video footage?"

"No. Eric said they can't get a clear enough view of the faces for facial recognition to get a confirmed match." Sam said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Jacobs's truck was a bust as well. All I could find was a couple cans of dip and a bottle of Pepsi." Callen said as he looked over at Deeks

"Any word from Kensi and Dom?" Deeks said as he pulled up his e-mail and began sifting through it.

"We checked out Jacobs's apartment but not much there. Talked to his roommate who said he hasn't seen Jacobs since he deployed to Afghanistan three months ago. Dom thinks there is something wrong with Jacobs SRB so he has Eric looking into that." Kensi said as she walked into the bullpen Dom trailing behind her but instead of entering the bullpen he walked right past it and deeper into the building that houses the OSP. "Did you guys have any luck?"

"No. Cameras at the scene picked up a late 90's model grey Honda Civic but no clear view of the hiller or the driver. Eric is running Kaleidoscope to look for it." Sam said as he looked over at Callen and he noticed that Callen was still staring in the same direction that Dominic had walked off. "G you good?"

"Yeah….just thinking. There has to be something we are missing."

"Guys I found something you need to see." Eric called from the stairs as he hurried down them and into the bullpen as he began to press a few buttons on his tablet and the smart TV int eh bullpen came to live. "Kaleidoscope got a hit on your Honda Civic. It was at the LAPD evidence garage, Callen it pulled in just after you left."

**NCIS OSP**

**Nate Getz Office**

**12:20 P.M.**

The small but soundproof office of Dr. Nate Getz was unlike most of the building that housed the Office of Special Projects it was decorated to be warm and welcoming, something that Nate and Hetty had worked very hard to create. This was due to common knowledge that federal agents of the caliber required to work in OSP did not talk about their feelings related to a case, they simply justified their actions as 'for the greater good' and moved on to the next assignment. It was a coping mechanism that was natural reaction. Yet for all their bravado of 'being fine' Nate and Hetty knew that the agents would need a healthy outlet for the trauma witnessed, and sometimes perpetrated, by the large number of NCIS Agents attached to the OSP. So far only one person had willingly sought out Nate, most of the other agents were forced to see him either by Hetty or NCIS mandated annual psychological counseling.

As Nate was reviewing a couple files of new members to the Tactical Response Team there was a soft knock at the door. Quickly closing the files Nate placed them under the desktop calendar before standing to open the door, where he was greeted with the image of his only willing 'patient'. "Dom, hey come on in." Nate said warmly to the younger man and stepped back to let him in the room.

"Hey Nate, do you have a minute to talk?"

"Of course." Nate said as he pointed to the large and comfortable chair that he sometimes napped in since most of the time his job was pretty boring with the lack of willing patients. "Please have a seat." Dom nodded mutely at Nate and did as his friend suggested and leaned back in the seat and sighed heavily as he leaned back in the chair. "So how are you doing Dom?"

"Honestly I don't know..." Dom trailed off as he slightly off to his left and put his right fist against his mouth and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Well why don't you tell me what made you want to come talk to me today?" Nate said as he sat in his own chair and put his right leg on top of his left casually.

"It's Deeks." Dom said as he turned his head to look at Nate and the Operational Psychologist could tell from the way Dom carried him that he was conflicted about his thoughts in regards to the man who had taken a bullet for Sam during the rescue of Dominic.

"You're afraid that since he is an agent now you'll be replaced and transferred out of OSP." Nate voiced Dom's fears in an calm and understanding tone, when he received a nod from the younger African American man across from him Nate uncrossed his legs and leaned forward resting his elbows together and loosely clasping his hands together. "Dom do you think that's why Marty decided to become and agent? To take your job and place on this team."

"No…But he's been a LAPD Undercover Detective for a long time before he came here and from what I've gathered her was pretty much recruited by Hetty." Dom said with a slight edge of anger and uncertainty in his voice. "So he's probably better at being an agent then I am." Dom couldn't keep the slight bitterness from creeping into his voice.

"Out of Sam and Callen who do you think is a better agent?" Nate asked Dom calmly and received a confused look from his patient.

"What?" Dom was completely confused by Nate's question and had no idea what the hell it had to do with his current doubts.

"Between Callen and Sam who do you think is a better agent for this office?"

"I….I don't know they are even I guess." Dom said confused as he looked at Nate. "What does this have to do with Deeks?"

"Just hear me out ok?" Nate said as he held up one hand to ward off Dom's words and reactions. "As you undoubtedly know Callen has worked with various agencies and before joining NCIS Sam was a Navy SEAL. The both have skills and qualities that make them a valuable asset to this team. Some skills Sam is better at then Callen and vice versa."

"I still don't see what that has to do with me and Deeks." Dom said getting slightly impatient with Nate.

"The same comparison can be made between you and Deeks. Sure Deeks has more experience with certain aspects of undercover work then you do, but Deeks is not a MIT graduate with a masters degree in computer forensics. He aslo doesn't have the vast knowledge of random facts that you do, many of those facts have helped us out on several cases since your return." Nate said as he leaned back into her chair as he could tell from the look in Dom's eyes that he was thinking about what he had just been told. "Dom if you weren't ready to do your job I never would have told Hetty that you were. Besides do you honestly feel that Hetty would have picked you for this job if she didn't think you had the potential to do it after you graduated from FLETC?"

Nate paused briefly to allow Dominic a chance to absorb his words. "Everyone who had come into this office without the background of Callen and Sam has wondered the same thing you are right now. Am I cut out for this job? Is this really something I can do?"

"Dom self-doubt is normal for any agent. While your teammates may seem completely self-assured and confident in everything they do it is because they have gained the experience to make them that way. I have no doubt that you will be the same way one day." Nate said with a smile.

"Than what do I do about this….this feeling of jealousy towards Deeks?" Dom asked conflicted at his own emotions regarding the probationary agent.

"Deeks is the kind of man that cares about those he works with. But for so long Deeks has worked alone and with little to virtually no back up while undercover with the LAPD. Being part of a team is a bit of a foreign concept to him. Maybe the best thing you can do it talk to him off duty some time, maybe hang out and get to know each other a little better. It would help make him feel more welcome and get used to being part of a team, and it will help you to see that Deeks just wants to do what he can to help people." Nate said as he watched ever little move that Dom made and could tell that the young agent was struggling with all of this.

**NCIS OSP**

**Bullpen**

**12:20 P.M.**

"Eric are you sure about that?" Deeks said as he knew that this was serious. It also mean that there killers had access to evidence in their own case.

"Yeah, the car pulled in to the parking lot then left ten minutes later."Eric said as he looked at the former LAPD Detective.

"But why would they look in the truck now? Why not search it before or after they killed Jacobs?" Kensi asked as she looked at Callen. "What was in the truck?"

"Nothing just a couple cans of dip….The Pepsi bottle. I didn't check it because it was a spitter." Callen said mentally kicking himself, he had made a huge mistake and he was pissed at himself

"Ok that's just gross. I wouldn't have checked it either." Deeks said as he looked at Sam. "So what do we do know?"

Sam quickly looked at Callen out of the corner of his eye and could tell that his partner was royally pissed off at himself. "You two find Dom and go to the garage, see what you can find out about who drove that Honda, and if they took anything." Kensi nodded at Sam and pulled out her cellphone to call Dom when he walked into the bullpen.

"Dom you're with me and Deeks." Kensi quickly informed him as she walked out of the bullpen, Deeks hot on her heels and Dom quickly followed them.

"I call shotgun." The blonde surfer loudly declared.

"Wrong Blondie, Probbies in the back." Kensi shot back as they walked out of the building.

"Mr. Callen, Mr. Hannah I need you two in the boat shed. There will be two gentleman there shortly who can shed some light on why Sergeant Jacobs was killed this morning." Hetty said as she walked into the bullpen following the departure of three of her agents. Hetty stepped back as she allowed her two senior most agents to walk from the bullpen and to the double doors near the entrance to the facilities gym. "And for the record Mr. Callen I would have forgone inspecting the contents of the bottle, a most disgusting habit." Hetty said since she knew Callen was not one to take personal failures lightly.

**Redondo Beach, CA**

**NCIS OSP Boatshed**

**1:00 P.M.**

Sam and Callen were sitting at the table in the boatshed OSP used to interrogate suspects and question witness. Occasionally they would meet someone with the appropriate security cleared for the sharing of information pertaining to the case without compromising the location of their headquarters at the 'condemned' water treatment administration facility; this was one of those times.

The sound of the doorknob turning alerted the two men that their quests had arrived and they stood up. While they were expecting friendly visitors the men also knew to be cautious. When the door opened Sam and Callen spotted a man on crutches with a shaved head and a large knee brace on his left knee. The second man appeared to be in his early forties and was sporting a small patch of grey hair near his left temple and a short trimmed beard that had some grey in it as well. The older of the two men stepped in front of the injured and younger man in a protective manner.

"Agents Hannah and Callen?"

"Who are you?" Sam asked as he and Callen moved in tandem and kept a few feet apart from each other in case this had been a trap. Even though they trusted Hetty to have confirmed the two unknown men's identity it was wise to always be careful in their line of work.

"I'm Agent Stryker, this is Agent Jackson. We're with D.I.A" Stryke said as he stepped forward and extended his hand towards the two NCIS Agents.

"Wait Jackson? Jacobs's roommate Jackson?" Callen said as he quickly looked at Sam and then back to the two D.I.A. agents in front of him.

"One and the same, you two work with Agent Blye?" Jackson said as he hobbled in the main room of the boatshed and leaned against his crutches for support.

"What does the Defense Intelligence Agency have to do with Jacobs?" Sam asked ignoring the question.

"I was Jacobs's and Jackson's handler. I think I know what got him killed." Stryker said as he looked at Callen. "And if I'm right we have a huge breach of security."

**A/N PLEASE remember to vote on the poll for this story. You can find it on my profile. Just click on my name next to the story title. It's a simple yes or no poll and it gives you a chance to decide what will be a huge part of this story and will affect how things will proceed until the end of it, which will go on at least as long as the show.**


	12. not a real update

**I haven't given up on my stories! I've been busy fighting with the VA about my GI Bill money since school starts next week and I STILL haven't gotten a confirmation letter form them and between that and sqeezing out as much over time as I can handle before quiting on Friday I've been busy with real life things and have little motivation to write at the moment. BUT rest assured once I get into the routine of school I'll be back at it. Again sorry about this.**


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